Riddells Creek’s John Herron joined Member for Northern Victoria Tania Maxwell at the Victorian Parliament for ‘The Lost Petition’ – an exhibition honouring women and children who have their lives to violence.
Mr Herron’s daughter Courtney was murdered in Royal Park, Parkville, in 2019.
Melbourne artist Dans Bain’s piece was designed to mirror Victoria’s Great Petition for the right to vote signed by 30,000 women and presented to Parliament in 1891.
‘The Lost Petition’ names the 1007 women and children who have lost their lives to violence between 2008 and 2022.
Ms Maxwell, a representative of Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party, said Mr Herron’s daughter ‘was horribly murdered … by a man later found not guilty by mental impairment’.
Courtney’s name features alongside others in ‘The Lost Petition’, with the age they lost their life to violence.
Ms Maxwell said the exhibition brought Members of Parliament face to face with the statistic that one woman every week, on average, is murdered by her partner or a former partner, calling it ‘overwhelming’.
“It’s now eight months since I again brought to Parliament’s attention that Victoria has no stand-alone family violence offence in its criminal code,” she said.
“If we’re serious about stopping it, that’s what we need – for the sake and safety of so many women and children who suffer this awful crime.
“And we need to fund education, intervention and primary support in every community.”
Protecting children
Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party also moved in Parliament last week to make family violence in the presence of a child a summary offence.
Ms Maxwell said the proposal put by party state leader and Western Victoria MP Stuart Grimley was developed with support from a child survivor, and victim survivors including Rosie Batty and Simone O’Brien to recognise the impact of family violence on children.
The child survivor spoke at Parliament about watching his mother being physically assaulted.
“On one occasion he thought she would be killed, but police and courts don’t see Toby as a victim,” Ms Maxwell said.
“Yet what he saw continues to have a profound impact on his life.
“The latest Crime Statistics Agency Victoria data shows more than 77 per cent of children who witnessed a family violence incident reported to police had an interaction with the justice system within five years.
“This shows it’s an issue that needs to be urgently addressed.”
The Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party motion proposes a maximum two-year prison term for those convicted of family violence witnessed by a child.
The offence would include violence that is damaging but may not be physical.
The party also proposes that offenders be required to participate in ‘Caring Dads’, a men’s behaviour change program, which is turning away clients because of overwhelming demand and inadequate funding.
“Despite $3.5 billion of spending in the family violence sector since Victoria’s 2016 Royal Commission into Family Violence, spending is not keeping up with demand for services,” Ms Maxwell said.
“Crime data shows children were present in 33,216 family incidents reported for the year ending March 2022. This means kids were present in more than 36 per cent of all family incidents reported to police across the state.”
Ms Maxwell said research showed family violence incidents in Mitchell Shire in the year to March were 46 per cent above the Victorian average of 1360 incidents per 100,000 people.
“It’s a shocking reality and on too many occasions it’s seen by children who are more likely to become victims and perpetrators, relieve their trauma with alcohol and drugs, and get into trouble with the law when they are older – especially boys,” she said.
