‘You have lost my trust’: Rosie Batty’s angry text to Anne Summers exposes domestic violence policy rift

Rosie Batty is angry and she’s not afraid to say so.

The former Australian of the Year has accused feminist Anne Summers and anti-violence advocate Jess Hill of attempting to undermine the national strategy to end violence against women.

Batty, whose son Luke was murdered in public by his father in 2014, has written to Summers and Hill saying their attacks on national prevention agency Our Watch are damaging efforts to protect women.

The pair were included in the Albanese government’s six-member rapid review panel into prevention of violence against women, where two sources say they dominated discussions.

Advocate Rosie Batty has fired back at Anne Summers and Jess Hill over their comments on the rapid review panel on family violence.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

In a text message to Summers, seen by this masthead, Batty says: “I am appalled at your attack on Our Watch, together with the others … [and I] needed to express my intense disappointment, if not anger, at the way this has been approached … you have lost my trust.”

The review was critical of the “Change the story” framework, which underpins the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children, and called for an independent reassessment of the primary prevention framework, saying it privileged one driver over others.

Summers and Hill denounced Our Watch’s approach, critiquing its focus on prevention, which includes addressing gender inequality. Critics say this undermined the work of many in the sector.

Summers has also taken credit for putting DV-related suicides on the national agenda. Earlier this year, Victoria Police and key family services providers lobbied the coroner to reclassify the deaths of three women who died by suicide. A report by the NSW Domestic Violence Review team in 2017 found nearly half of all people who died by suicide had experienced domestic violence, either as victims or as perpetrators.

The rapid review panel was announced on May 1, after nine women were killed in 15 days, including those murdered in the stabbings in Westfield Bondi Junction in Sydney. The trend over 10 years is downward.

Batty’s anger exposes divisions in the domestic violence sector over competition for funding. On Friday, national cabinet outlined a $702 million boost in funding after the review warned frontline services could not cope with growing calls for help.

The restructure of the national research organisation for women’s safety in Australia, ANROWS, was announced on Thursday.

Author and journalist Jess Hill was on the rapid review panel with Anne Summers.Credit: Brook Mitchell

Our Watch and the majority of industry experts say the evidence base reveals that addressing gender inequality and violence prevention are key to advancing primary prevention efforts and fixing the problem in the long term. The national plan includes addressing the impact of alcohol and gambling.

On the other side, advocates such as Summers and Hill claim the evidence is incomplete, saying the work that underpins the national plan has been censored. That claim is strongly contested by Our Watch.

The federal government says the rapid review panel was always intended to complement extensive work already under way, including the work of First Nations women.

A spokesperson for the Minister for Women Katy Gallagher said: “The Albanese government supports the important work of Our Watch and looks forward to working with all services to prevent violence against women and children.”

In Batty’s message to Hill, she wrote: “I have worked very hard in my advocacy to amplify the voice of the sector and have always worked collaboratively. I have never discredited anyone or looked to undermine anyone ... I am shocked at your recent approach and those you’re associated with and wonder if you understand how very damaging it is.

“Surely you could consider pushing your agenda and promoting your own campaigns without having to seek to ruin others in the process. I’m sure I would be happy to back you on lots you have to say … I may be a poor victim with lived experience but I have learnt much over the past 10 years. And I am deeply troubled by what I’m seeing unfold.”

Summers and Hill were approached for comment but declined to reply and referred questions to Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner Micaela Cronin and executive director of the Office for Women Padma Raman.

Cronin and others say many of the report’s recommendations were well-received. She also says the review acknowledged the work of existing groups such as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Advisory Council.

Cronin, one of three co-conveners of the review, says: “I’ve heard the criticisms of the panel, I’ve reflected on it and I’ve learnt from it.”

She says the key is to constantly challenge the approach to those who cause family and sexual violence and harm.

“We must constantly challenge our approaches and thinking about whether we have got it right. That includes our approach to the way the rapid review worked.”

But one source involved with the panel, who did not want to be named, said: “We have to be prepared to question everything and that’s an important message. But we stuffed up, [not understanding] how divisive [Anne and Jess] are in the sector. ”

Another says discussions were not collegial. And key researchers in the field were not part of the process. Research fellow at the Australian National University Hayley Boxall – formerly manager of the Australian Institute of Criminology’s Violence against Women and Children Research Program – says the response of Batty and others reveal a sector that is under-resourced and burnt out.

“That’s why everyone is treating this as if it was the Hunger Games. The rapid review needed more time and more transparency,” she says.

As Boxall’s research is on perpetration, she says the review’s focus on perpetrators is understandable – but gender equality should be a priority as well as other factors.

“It is never going to go away. There will always be people who use violence against women because it is not a problem with a single solution, and people use violence for complex reasons,” she says.

She says the review did not consult key researchers such as Kate Fitz-Gibbon of Monash University, Silke Meyer of Griffith University and QUT’s Michael Flood.

Fitz-Gibbon said: “While I would have loved to have given evidence to the panel, unfortunately I wasn’t invited to do so. I emailed a copy of recent research to panel members as I wasn’t aware of any open opportunities to feed into the review.”

As well as Summers and Hill, the panel included noted researcher Elena Campbell of RMIT, Movember’s Zac Seidler, former Victorian Commissioner for LGBTIQ+ Communities Todd Fernando and former Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Leigh Gassner. Cronin’s co-conveners were Raman and secretary of the Department of Social Services Ray Griggs. There were no researchers whose expertise was strictly in violence prevention.

No First Nations women were on the panel. Antoinette Braybrook, CEO of Djirra Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention and Legal Service, says the lack of an Aboriginal woman on the panel was an affront. “We must stop letting the government keep Aboriginal women invisible.”

Raman, Cronin and Griggs decided on the composition of the panel with input from the offices of the prime minister, the minister for women and the minister for social services.

Fiona McCormack, the recently retired Victorian victims of crime commissioner, said she was disappointed with the process.

“If you want to bring about change you have to take people with you,” she said. “This was divisive and public. Why undermine people’s confidence in the evidence base? This is not good for the whole cause. All the messages for over a decade undermined. These people should know better.

“I can absolutely appreciate the levels of concern and rage when we see the relentless slaughtering of women and children by men who choose to use violence. But then why would you attack those who’ve been slogging on this for decades?”

Elena Campbell, one of the panel members, said Australia has done a good job of recognising adult victim survivors but there must be a new focus – ensuring children and young people get the support they need.

She is concerned not enough is done to fund services for children and remedy the impacts of trauma on their development and regards recommendations from the review as a positive step.

“We have made a good initial investment but much more needs to be done. Our task is to stop immediate violence from occurring but we can’t think that is the end of our responsibility.”

CEO of Safe and Equal Tania Farha, also disturbed by the way the review was conducted, has called for unity.

“I would like to see us all come back together and agree that we have to work across all parts of the system, prevention to recovery, and respect each other’s specialisation and expertise. Because we know that’s what people experiencing gender-based violence need.”

She is also calling for a fully funded national partnership agreement for all frontline services, crisis, response, legal and recovery as well as community-led initiatives and programs on the ground over the life of the national plan.

“We have a scale of an issue not appreciated. We think of it as a linear thing, but it is in every aspect of our community.”

The new CEO of ANROWS, Tessa Boyd-Caine, has overseen the restructure, saying: “While we continue to build rigorous, high-quality and trusted evidence, we also need to extend the impact of that evidence, supporting decision-making in policy and practice and influencing public awareness about evidence-based responses to women’s and children’s safety.”