A WAR WE’RE NOT WINNING

LONG before Tara Brown and Karina Lock became the tragic faces of a war that – until their very public slayings – had been waged behind closed doors, the domestic violence toll had been mounting on the Gold Coast.

Our city has an appalling record going back a long way. What happens here is just the tip of an iceberg across the nation, but the Coast has endured more than its fair share of “family violence’’ incidents that shock in their savagery.

On the one hand, the beautiful weather and beaches, entertainment strips and mountains of opportunity in tourism and education promise a better life. But on the other hand, this does not always happen. Some come seeking to escape financial pressures or relationship problems. Instead, frustrations mount as realisation dawns that problems can’t be dodged through a change of address.

All the same, others tormented by hate or jealousy have lived here all their life.

Our front page photograph today sums up the futile and irrational violence that can destroy lives. A man sits on the footpath, holding his head after – police will allege – pushing his partner to the ground and, as she lay unconscious, continuing the attack until other people intervened.

Like the proverbial bad apple in the barrel, those who lash out too readily not only harm the ones they seek to control, but also ruin the lives of the children who might be part of the relationship, and other family members. Stopping the cycle poses enormous challenges.

Legislation was brought in last year to impose tougher restrictions on people accused of domestic violence and harsher penalties on those found guilty. Police work hard to try to contain the blight, with squads trying to defuse ticking DV timebombs before they go off.

Meanwhile refuges struggle to provide shelter for frightened women and children, and thugs continue to show no respect for their victims or the courts. There is a long way to go to win this war.