Australia's Devastating Week of Domestic Violence
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Why did Australia experience five domestic‑violence deaths in just one week?
you know, to have your child, your son, come to you and say, How what are we gonna say? How are we gonna tell children? you know that they won't see their mum again w is heartbreaking.
Australia has suffered at least five domestic violence deaths in the last seven days, way above our already appalling average. We have two guests from the Coalface today. Later, we hear from Karen Bevan, the CEO of Full Stop Australia. But first, it's Kylie Druitt, who has turned her own lived experience into advocacy for other survivors, especially children. She's the co-founder of Australian Voices for the Silenced. This is on Australian True Crime, we acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which this podcast is created, the Wurundjeri Woiwarung people of the Kulin Nation. And a warning, this episode of the podcast contains graphic descriptions of violence.
So Sarah Brown is the maternal grandmother of my first granddaughter. So we were both grandmas together, yes. For ten weeks anyway.
Okay.
And did you know her well? Well, our kids had been together for some time. Um, 'cause they're childhood sweethearts. The common thing for us was the kids, um rather than a friendship, I guess.
I talk about this idea that If one woman a week is murdered in Australia by an intimate partner or a former intimate partner or a family member, I wonder if next week's lady knows that she's in danger. Do you think Sarah knew that she was in danger?
No. Absolutely not. In fact, um one of her friends had been killed earlier in the year and that perpetrator was only arrested this year, so nine years ago. And walking into Sarah's house after her death and seeing the photo of those two women um was very disturbing for me.
It is disturbing.
Yeah. That they were both gone.
She obviously had intimate knowledge of how these things can happen. Yeah. In a family and to a woman. And um still you say she you don't think she felt that she could be a victim? No. I believe that you don't like to speak specifically about the attack that took Sarah's life. Is that correct? Correct, yes. Do you think there is and I'm not gonna ask you to, obviously, and I'm not going to, but do you think there is normally we do, and I guess so it's made me self conscious. Um Do you think there is a reason to? Or do you think we should steer away from the details of the violence?
Look, as someone who has experienced violence most of my life. Actually talking about our family members that way um is re traumatizing for one. And you know, I know kids who've come into my orbit doing, you know, the advocacy that our group is. And they're kids when this happens and they become adults themselves and inquisitive. Lots of them, you know, often they've lost their mum and their dad because the father was the perpetrator. He's in jail or he's taken his own life. And so they go into the foster care system. People are really not conscious of how they should have these discussions with those kids. And then they Google. And I have seen the distress that has come about from children reading these articles.
Um, so no, I don't think If we're talking about healing and healing is prevention. then I don't know why we need it out there in the world to re traumatise A group of people who are already on the edges. Um, because there's so much stigma around this. You know, if you talk to people, even when we access services. If you're talking about a stranger homicide, You know, someone was killed while they were out or, you know, frequently there's, you know, a fight at the pub or whatever. People find that more palatable than actually discussing a D V homicide. And I think that the reason for that is because that there's victim blaming. Why didn't she leave all of this sort of stuff? I've had people say to me, Oh, I don't know what to say if I start dating.
You know, where are your parents? Who are they? Um, so adding to their trauma by having those details, um, is a way of them heal like protecting them and enabling them to heal. Because once the information's out there, it's used for other purposes that you can't control, and then that becomes hurtful as well.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why did Australia experience five domestic‑violence deaths in just one week?
0:00–7:08
2
How does Kylie Druett’s personal experience shape Australian Voices for the Silenced?
7:08–13:20
3
What are the long‑term impacts of domestic‑violence homicides on surviving children?
13:20–19:18
4
How does Full Stop Australia’s 1‑800‑Full‑Stop helpline support victims and families?
19:18–25:17
5
Why is media coverage of domestic‑violence deaths often focused on the mother and not the children?
25:17–31:32
6
What systemic changes does Karen Bevan suggest to prevent future domestic‑violence homicides?
31:32–40:26
7
How can community organisations better support children left behind after a homicide?
40:26–49:30
8
What can listeners do to help improve responses to domestic and family violence in Australia?
49:30–57:18