Hetty Johnson fights on but 20 years of horror stories take toll
pursue a Royal Commission into a family law system she describes as “toxic, unaccountable and non-transparent”, the 58-year-old has shared an intimate insight into her life away from the public arena including:
• Why she rarely tells her husband about her day;
• That she’s stopped putting her parents second; and
• Why it’s pointless asking her how long she’ll keep doing what she does.
“I can see where Australia her paternal grandfather had sexually assaulted her and other members of the family. He went to jail, she received the care she needed and her mother had a fire light within her.
“We had the resources to find help for her but what about families who didn’t?” said Johnston, a former state Democrats leader. “There was nothing for those kids. No services. They didn’t exist.”
They do now, with Bravehearts’ Arundel HQ home to several rooms where counsellors try to heal little souls touched by evil and the parents and carers whose hearts break for them.
It is vital work often lost amid the headline-grabbing, table-thumping advocacy of its politically savvy leader.
Johnston’s latest battle is for a Royal Commission into the family law system, the maelstrom of courts, lawyers, experts and police that she says often sees children being ordered to live or have contact with sex offenders or abusive parents because they are unable to be found guilty beyond reasonable doubt.
“I’m not a person who cries ... but some of these stories do bring me to tears and I do feel the stress at the moment,” she says.
How will she know when it’s all too much?
“There’s enough people around here (at Bravehearts) who watch me like a hawk … and I’m actually very aware of my limit. Sometimes I’ll just work from home for a couple of days if it gets too much.” FAMILY AFFAIRS That home is a country retreat perched near the northern edge of the city and one she shares with the man who “keeps me sane”.
“We always get great laughs out of Ian,” she says of her husband, a self-employed tradie who supports his wife to the hilt without wanting to know all she knows.
“I try not to say too much because it really upsets him. He hasn’t got the same hard, crusted shell I have ... he doesn’t get in the trenches with me. He couldn’t cope.”
Along with their two daughters, the other most important people in Johnston’s life are her parents, who are also the reason she walked away from a brief tilt at the Logan mayoralty in late 2015.
“Mum had a bad fall and isn’t in a good way,” she says of her 86-year-old mother.
“My parents have come second right through this and I just had an awakening when she fell. It’s their time to come first. Before the campaign really started, I thought, ‘ Stuff it, it’s their time’.”
And when will time?
“I think I’ve got another good 10 years of going hard but I’ll never retire,” she says before smiling.
“I can’t because I’d go nuts. I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.” it be her