A woman sent me an email. This is what she said:
Hi Sherele,
I’m reaching out because I’m a mother currently living through what I can only describe as a broken domestic violence system, and I don’t know who else is listening.
For the past three years, I’ve had an ADVO in place against my ex-partner, who is also the father of my daughter. Despite that, the threats have continued. Like many women, I lost faith in the system a long time ago because every interaction seemed to lead nowhere.
Two weeks ago, I finally found enough trust to make a formal statement regarding breaches of the ADVO. After years of putting up with behaviour that should never be tolerated, I decided to go through the process and do everything I was supposed to do.
I have since learned that the breach still hasn’t even been sent interstate for service.
At the same time, I’ve been waiting over a month for a simple phone call from my local Domestic Violence Liaison Officer to explain the process and provide an update. That call has never come.
What makes this even harder to understand is that there is an outstanding NSW warrant that has existed for years. During that time, there have been occasions where he has been in NSW, yet nothing appears to have come from it. There have also been previous reports and conversations that, from my understanding, were not identified or progressed as domestic violence matters.
As a victim-survivor, I keep asking myself the same questions.
Why is domestic violence not taken seriously from the very beginning?
Why are victims expected to keep reporting, documenting, and reliving their trauma if those reports are not acted upon quickly?
Why do women have to spend years chasing updates and accountability while trying to keep themselves and their children safe?
Why does it feel like state borders create barriers when it comes to enforcing warrants and domestic violence matters?
Why isn’t there a stronger national approach to protecting victim-survivors and holding perpetrators accountable?
Most importantly, why does it often feel like action only comes after someone has been seriously harmed or killed?
I am exhausted.
Not because I haven’t spoken up.
Not because I haven’t reported.
Not because I haven’t followed the process.
I’m exhausted because I have followed the process and still feel like I am fighting alone.
This isn’t just about me. It’s about every woman who has lost faith after being ignored, every victim who has waited months for answers, every mother trying to protect her children while navigating a system that feels impossible to understand.
I know there are dedicated people working within the system, but from where I stand, the gaps are enormous, and those gaps are leaving women vulnerable.
I don’t want sympathy.
I want awareness.
I want accountability.
And I want people to start asking why so many women are still falling through the cracks despite doing everything they are told to do. Why are they not being protected by the ones (police) who are meant to be on call to protect us at any given time?
Thank you for everything you do to give woman a voice. I hope by sharing my experience, it helps shine a light on just how much still needs to change.
Any other contact to pass this email onto would be greatly appreciated. I feel like I want to start making a noise.
Kind regards,
M
****
Every time I get a message like this, I fear she may become another name on my femicide toll. Australian governments - national, state & territory - are not listening to us. They do not understand the depth of the systemic failures women face when trying to stay alive and safe.
This is just one of the many reasons we need a Royal Commission into the Killing of Women and Girls. You can sign the petition aat https://t.co/BsvFWmIzbL.
my best friend and i went to the WHCD, and we ended up leaving early because something felt off
it started the second we got there. every event we’ve ever been to, especially at this level, there are layers of security. bags checked, IDs checked, actual process
this time, nothing. we were just asked if we had tickets, said yes, and got waved through
no bag check. no real screening. no line. just thousands of people packed together, being pushed through the doors as fast as possible
it felt wrong immediately. like, viscerally wrong. my bestfriend literally turns to me and says “i think something is going to happen”
and then it did
this cannot happen. not here, not at something like this
praying for everyone, but there needs to be accountability because this should never happen again
SHOCKING THREAT: “If she doesn’t keep her mouth shut and continues spreading lies about me, she’ll experience what I’m capable of.” — Anthony Albanese reportedly issued a warning directed at Freya Leach, the so-called “Queen of Reporters” who claims to have exposed alleged election fraud.
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese allegedly delivered a harsh warning, carefully veiled in his words, toward the independent journalist as an investigation surrounding his controversial voter list continues to attract attention.
Sources close to Albanese were reportedly heard saying, “If she doesn’t know how to keep quiet and keeps making up stories, she will pay the price,” a statement many interpreted as a dark promise of retaliation over the election-fraud allegations.
Unfazed by the warning, Leach reportedly fired back with a brief 10-word response,
“I’ll report the truth, no matter how high they climb.
In his own words, the threat is from ‘Islamophobia’ and ‘right wing extremism’, no mention of Jew hating Islamists. @AlboMP is incompetent and unfit to be our Prime Minister.
Shamelessly mendacious!
Australia's far left Prime Minister Anthony Albanese claims to not know of a viral video showing him leading an anti-Isreali rally during his university days.
The whole interview is a disgusting exercise in obvious deflection and obfuscation.
Mr Albanese is typical of the deceitful weak soft men (and women) who have gradually worked their way into leadership positions across the West. They care about nothing so much as power.
We the people are paying a terrible price for tolerating their weakness and duplicity.
This is @AlboMP attending a pro Palestine rally with terrorist sympathiser in attendance and speaking at it with the Hezbollah flag beside him absolute disgrace to call him our Prime Minister #auspol
Prime Minister, your announcement today of an internal departmental review of law enforcement and intelligence agencies is wholly inadequate. To use an Australian colloquialism its bullshit.
It’s weak, it’s wrong, it’s an abrogation of your first and fundamental duty to protect all Australian citizens after the deadliest terrorist attack on Australian soil at Bondi beach.
Your departmental review will not go to the heart of the issues and the radicalisation within our country, which has been allowed to explode on your watch.
Prime Minister what are you afraid a Commonwealth Royal Commission will uncover?
The Commonwealth must take the lead with the most comprehensive, powerful Royal Commission possible. You supported Royal Commissions into the banks, veterans, aged care and welfare system.
Now 15 innocent souls including 10 year old Matilda have been murdered by radical Islamists and all you are prepared to commit to is an internal departmental review? It beggars belief and is the latest failure in federal leadership.
It’s not good enough to pass the buck to NSW whose Premier has already indicated he will hold a Royal Commission. Why is a Royal Commisson good enough for NSW but not the Federal Government?
No one could think that the extremist threat is limited to NSW. These are federal offences, federal responsibilities and failures at the federal level. The threat is national. You yourself have said that this terrorist attack was inspired by the Islamic State, you cannot legitimately conclude that this is a matter to be covered by a state based Royal Commission.
Anti-Jew intimidation, harassment and violence has metastasised in our country and must not be allowed to go one day longer. The tsunami of hate is not just an attack on Jewish Australians, it’s a threat to every Australian. Prime Minister enough is enough!
If you’re still wondering why the PM was booed at the Bondi vigil, watch this @SharriMarkson segment detailing how the PM knowingly wore an antisemitic T-shirt.
And that is just a drop in the bucket.
🚨 AUSTRALIA, THIS IS YOUR PRIME MINISTER. 🚨
Anthony Albanese stepped off a VIP flight from Washington wearing a Joy Division T‑shirt.
He asked the media not to film him.
Why?
Because he knew exactly what the name meant.
Joy Division was the name the Nazis gave to the section of concentration camps where Jewish women were enslaved and raped by SS officers.
Albanese was told this three years earlier.
On a podcast.
He understood.
He even asked that part of the conversation not be published.
Disgusting.
In a world full of discord, kindness is a choice.
And I’m seeing too many people take pleasure in kicking those who are already down.
Real kindness doesn’t punch down.
It understands power—and takes responsibility for how its used.
Whatever privilege you hold, use it to protect.
That’s the line.
Our leaders failed us. They allowed our country to be radicalised.
Now they must be accountable. No excuses. No deflections. No equivocation.
Guns stole 15 innocent lives but Islamist ideology pulled the trigger. This and ending the tsunami of hate we have faced every day since October 7 must be our focus.
The future of our country is in the balance.
Our leaders failed us. They allowed our country to be radicalised.
Now they must be accountable. No excuses. No deflections. No equivocation.
Guns stole 15 innocent lives but Islamist ideology pulled the trigger. This and ending the tsunami of hate we have faced every day since October 7 must be our focus.
The future of our country is in the balance.
The convenience store giant has admitted that Melbourne’s rampant crime crisis and fears for staff safety were among reasons it opened its first workerless, vending machine only store in the CBD. > https://t.co/bTZY7ByVZh