Answer: They not thinking beyond their managerialism. They don`t give a tinker’s curse about women, refuges, court support programs, rape crisis centres, Legal Aid, saving women’s lives, keeping women safe, worrying about what women with any sense of community care, hope, worry about in reality. The LNP closed 80 out of 100 specialist domestic violence refuges in 2014 and saved money by merging homelessness services with domestic violence services. Locally, wonderful services in Kempsey and Taree were crushed and rebranded. Surviving refuges for women and children fleeing violence are now run as businesses or charities employing job titles such as CEO. 

Imagine if 70 people had been killed so far this year in Australia by terrorists? Would governments dally as they do with the lives of women and children terrorised by violence or the threat of it? We know what works-we did it for years – provide immediate safety for women and children at risk of violence no matter the time or day and refer the perpetrators immediately to the Criminal Justice system.

Leonie Maguire, Port Macquarie