DV memorial rally calling for change
HUDDLED under a tent pitched on the Norm Rix Park grounds, a small group of women gather to observe a memorial.
Rolling grey clouds bring with them rain, but the posters laid carefully across the grass, garlanded by roses, are laminated and resolutely stand against the elements.
“There’s nothing domestic about murder,” one reads.
“Domestic violence kills,” reads another.
Among them, five posters name with reverence four women and one son murdered by their domestic partners. Ahead of the rectangles stand five gunpowder black busts.
It’s a sombre meeting on a sombre day, but for women such as Di Macleod, it is a day of remembrance and action.
“Today we are here to remember the five Queensland victims of domestic homicide, all killed in the month of August,” Ms Macleod tells the crowd.
She is the director of the
Gold Coast Centre Against Sexual Violence, the organiser of the Friday memorial rally. Her sermon continues.
“All of these people had a right to be safe, but they weren’t safe, not even in their own homes, because someone actively chose to use violence to extinguish their lives,” Ms Macleod says.
“They cannot be reduced to a statistic. We need to say their names and remember them as real people who had hopes and dreams for the future.”
In Australia, one woman is murdered every week on average by either a current or former intimate partner. And one in three women will have experienced physical violence from the age of 15, with younger women especially more likely to fall victim.
But with five domestic homicides in one month, Queensland experienced its deadliest month after the murders of Susan Duffy, 71; Tania Trickey, 38; Florrie Reuben, 47; Jifeng “Eileen” Liu, 47 and her son Wenhao “Sam” Du, 20 in August.
“These cases are horrific, but sadly they are not unique. This is our national crisis,” Ms Macleod says.
Standing in the crowd, Shadow Minister for Women Ros Bates holds in her hand a rose the same stark shade as her red lipstick.
Her eyes are hard and posture straight – she takes the microphone next. And speaks about running away from home as a young girl.
“I’m actually a survivor myself of domestic and family violence,” Ms Bates tells them. “And it took me 35 years to actually tell my story.”
Later she says her family were among the “lucky” ones.
“I ran away from home when I was 15 and all I knew was violence,” she says.
“But luckily for me and my mum – none of my family members ended in tragedy. None of them were murdered is what she means by “lucky”.
“But (tragedy) is what we’re continuing to see happen here with domestic violence and family violence.”
But as a domestic and family violence survivor, advocate and now Shadow Minister for Women, Ms Bates has long since pushed for increased funding to the domestic and family violence services sectors, changes to federal and state law to criminalise coercive control, the increase of financial support for victims and the introduction of a “high-risk deviant sexual violence offender” registry in Queensland.
“We know that offenders move from state to state and sometimes slip through the gaps,” Ms Bates says.
“But more importantly we need to have a one-stop trauma centre.
“So that when a woman is fleeing domestic and family violence, with all of your possessions in the back of your car, your kids, your dog, your cat – that all of those services are wrapped around you when you walk through the door and you’re not trying to work out what you need to do next.
“We’ve had brave mothers of murdered victims here on the Gold Coast speaking out for many years alongside me, talking about a one-stop trauma centre for domestic and family violence … the police have been talking about onestop trauma centres, which is what I’ve been talking about for five years,” Ms Bates says. She’s looking straight at chief superintendent Craig Hanlon when she says that.
Mr Hanlon, standing on the outskirts of that huddled group, nods ever so slightly.
The blue uniforms, and black caps stand out from the customary black outfits.
While the crowd mourns, Mr Hanlon is acutely aware of the QPS’s role in all of this.
“It would be remiss of me not to say that we’re currently having a commission inquiry into the QPS responsiveness and family roles,” Mr Hanlon says in his speech.
“And I’m hoping there will be some positive change out of that so that we can provide our services to persons in our communities across Queensland,” he says.
“And to make sure that we hold those perpetrators to account,” Mr Hanlon says.
Explosive details have emerged from the ongoing Inquiry into Queensland Police Service responses to domestic violence, which has since revealed a culture of sexism within the police force including the active neglect
of domestic violence cases, misogynistic remarks made towards victims and fellow female officers.
“We go to about 120,000 domestic violence incidents every year and the majority of our police are doing the best they can,” Mr Hanlon says after his speech.
“What we want to see is if there is an issue in the way we respond, I’m very happy for the inquiry to say police can do this better and then we can learn from that and respond better.”
He’s been speaking to the women who attended.
Some thank him, most offer him their insights and ideas on how police respond to domestic violence calls.
Through it all, Mr Hanlon listens intently.
“We work for the community of which we are a part of and (the QPS) can’t deal with domestic violence alone – we need to work with our community partners, not just in the government space but also not-for-profit community groups and community members,” he says.
“The better we can respond the less people are going to die through domestic and family violence,” Mr Hanlon says.