Mother whose son Luke was killed by boy’s father tells inquiry issue is frequently overlooked and victims often blamed

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

Family violence should be as widely discussed as the road toll, Rosie Batty has told a Senate inquiry.

Batty, who lost her son Luke in an attack that sparked widespread coverage, said family violence was overlooked far too often.

“Since Luke died I have felt compelled to raise awareness,” Batty told the domestic violence inquiry in Melbourne on Friday.

“Why don’t we know that one in three women experience family violence, and one in four children experience family violence and one woman per week dies?

“Why are we so ambivalent and accepting of a problem that also takes up 50% of police time?” she said.

Batty said court orders did not offer sufficient protection to women and children affected by domestic violence, and the court system typically saw family violence “as a tedium in their workload”.

“Ultimately when you leave court there is no protection,” she said. “Violence is a continuum and without intervention it will not go away.”

Australia needed to tackle its culture of blaming the victim, she said.

Batty’s 11-year-old son was killed by his father, Greg Anderson, during a cricket training session in the Victorian town of Tyabb in February.

Anderson, 54, was shot dead by police after he killed his son at the oval, the only place where he was legally allowed to visit him due to an intervention order.