Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk powerless to help Gold Coast DV bikie victim

PREMIER Annastacia Palaszczuk says the story of a Gold Coast woman terrified of being killed by her bikie husband is heartbreaking but she and her Government are powerless to intervene.

PREMIER Annastacia Palaszczuk says the story of a Gold Coast woman terrified of being killed by her bikie husband is heartbreaking but she and her Government are powerless to intervene.

The Bulletin yesterday revealed the young mother’s letter to the Premier where she feared she would “be the next Teresa Bradford”, comparing herself to the Pimpama mother stabbed in 2017 by a violent and mentally ill husband allowed bail by the courts.

A Gold Coast woman has written to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk detailing horrific allegations about domestic violence.

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The Premier’s office yesterday detailed the events which followed the woman’s email, saying it was “sent for urgent action to relevant Government departments”, including police and prevention of domestic violence.

An offer of a place in a domestic violence shelter was refused and an arrest warrant for her husband was issued, but he was later bailed with conditions not to contact the woman.

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Shadow Minister for Women Ros Bates has called on the Government to rotate magistrates through the DV specialist court. (AAP Image/Darren England)

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A spokesman for the Premier told the Bulletin: “(the woman) asks the Government to adjudicate the case against her husband. Although her story is heartbreaking, no government can do that.

“A basic tenent of our society is that courts and governments are separate. All a government can do is make sure perpetrators face justice and victims are supported.

“(Her) pleas were never in vain and they were not ignored. They were acted on immediately as the timeline shows. She was listened to, as any woman in her position should be.”

Both the LNP and emergency service sources believe the story highlights how the woman was treated at the courts differently to how high-risk cases were handled by the specialist courts at Southport.

Coast MP and LNP frontbencher Ros Bates said the case showed why Labor should take the proactive step and rotate magistrates through the specialist domestic violence court.

“These are tragic cases and the last thing anyone wants to see is highly violent cases become normalised by their shocking regularity,” she said.

Originally published as Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk powerless to help Gold Coast DV bikie victim