NSW’s specially convened cabinet meeting on Friday, the day after Molly Ticehurst was laid to rest after being allegedly murdered by an ex-partner, achieved one crucial thing. It locked the state into treating violence against women as a top priority.
But it also bought the state government more time to act on a problem that is not new.
Deputy Premier Prue Car was clear in her messaging that a big spend emergency domestic violence package was only days away. “Not weeks, not months,” she stressed.
Deputy Premier Prue Car with Housing Minister Rose Jackson (left) and Environment Minister Penny Sharpe on Friday.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone
The fact that the government is prepared to make a significant investment in saving the lives of women is welcomed, but it took two weeks of national anger after Ticehurst’s death before the work started. There will also be medium and long-term solutions to come, Car said.
Car said Friday’s meeting, which heard from former Australian of the Year Rosie Batty, was about listening not deciding. Batty, who has been a respected national voice on domestic violence since her son Luke was killed by his father in 2014, would have undoubtedly offered invaluable contributions. But why is NSW only listening now?
As many experts in the field of domestic violence have said, including the federal Domestic and Sexual Violence Commissioner Micaela Cronin, there is much research that already exists into what needs to be done to stop women being killed.
Indeed, the NSW government’s argument for not immediately committing to a royal commission is that it has evidence from which to draw from other jurisdictions, most notably Victoria. Why then, has NSW waited until now, when the nation is begging for change, to consider those findings?
The domestic violence sector has been pleading for years for more funding. Amid all the talk of mortgage holders and renters doing it tough, a devastating part of the housing crisis is that some women are forced to camp in tents or sleep in their cars just to escape their dangerous home.
Yes, the situation is worsening but again, it is not new.
Ticehurst’s cruel death no doubt sharpened the nation’s attention to violence against women but let’s hope that this collective outrage and grief really is the catalyst needed for change. Two of NSW’s most respected female ministers, Penny Sharpe and Rose Jackson, are confident it is.
“I think (the) clear message to us today was if we continue to do the same, women are going to continue to die,” Sharpe said. “For me, after quite a long history of being in the marches for women trying to stop this, I actually feel that we’re finally making a breakthrough.”
And Jackson said this: “There are no words to demonstrate the government’s commitment to doing something about this, the time is now for action.”
The NSW government has said the appropriate things and promised big. Of course, these problems are not of its making, and it inherited a broken system that has, at best, been tinkered with around the edges. Cultural change, which goes well beyond governments, is also desperately needed.
When the government delivers its emergency package, it will need to be worth the wait. Not the few days’ wait Car was referring to, but the years in which too little was done and women died.
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2024-05-03 06:15:28Z
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