‘Heartless’: Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan ‘ignores’ desperate plea from domestic violence victim

A premier who insists her state leads Australia in preventing domestic violence has “ignored” the desperate plea of one victim who’s at breaking point.

A woman who escaped serious violence at the hands of her abusive and controlling partner has issued a powerful plea for help to her state’s premier after being “abandoned” by police.

Since ending the violent relationship, the victim – who can’t be named for legal reasons but has been given the pseudonym Natalie for this story – has endured ongoing torment via a series of terrifying attacks at her home, including a car being firebombed, which police insist are mere coincidences.

News.com.au reported on Natalie’s case in October, including the apparent failures of Victoria Police to adequately investigate her credible complaints and to enforce breaches of a family violence intervention order.

Since then, the woman has discovered authorities are now investigating her family following “vexatious” complaints made by her ex and his new partner.

Natalie's ex-husband sent her a video of him firing a shotgun.

CCTV shows a man fleeing after firebombing Natalie's sister's car.

On Monday, feeling desperate and out of options, Natalie wrote to Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan about police “inaction” and poor “professional standards”, which have emboldened her abuser and allowed his torment to carry on unpunished.

“I have raised again and again that I have not felt heard and [have been] dismissed at every turn [by] the police, in trying to keep myself and my family safe,” she wrote. “This has not been taken seriously.”

That lack of intervention “has now allowed the abuse to be inflicted on my family”, Natalie wrote in the impassioned letter, which has been obtained by news.com.au.

“No woman should have to beg and navigate barrier after barrier, when all I want to do is have myself and my family safe after leaving an abuser and trying to live a life free from violence,” she wrote.

“Despite multiple interactions with myself and [domestic and family violence advocates], reports, letters, feedback, [and] request for investigations, their inaction has allowed this violence and systematic abuse to continue with no intervention and lifelong impacts for us all.”

Natalie's sister's car was firebombed outside her home.

Natalie claimed the premier – who has in the past declared that “Victoria is leading the nation in the prevention of family violence” – has “ignored” her plea.

When approached by news.com.au about the correspondence, Ms Allan’s office declined to comment.

Victoria Police didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Natalie also wrote to Victoria’s Police Minister Anthony Carbines, the state’s Victims of Crime Commissioner Elizabeth Langdon, and Victoria Police, pleading to be heard.

Those requests for urgent assistance have been ignored or brushed off, she claimed.

Natalie has pleaded with Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan for help but says her correspondence has been ignored. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Kelly Barnes

She described the radio silence from multiple politicians and agencies as “heartless” and “demoralising”.

Natalie’s former partner is “weaponising” the justice system in order to prolong her torment and has now shifted his focus to members of her family, she claimed.

He and his new partner have filed for a personal safety intervention order against Natalie’s brother-in-law after an encounter at a Melbourne coffee shop.

“He and my sister have already been the targets of malicious reporting [by the man] to child protection [authorities] for their special needs child they care for,” Natalie revealed in her letter.

The ongoing harassment of her sister and her husband has seen them forced to “live everyday with the foreboding sense of what is going to happen next”.

Their requests for help from police have been “dismissed”, Natalie said.

Domestic and family violence advocate Kellene Elder, lead consultant at the advisory Safer Steps, is working with Natalie on her case.

Natalie’s ex has an “established history of using legal processes as tools of coercion”, Ms Elder said.

“His actions include false reports and threats of reports to agencies such as the Australian Taxation Office, Child Protection, and the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

“These actions are deliberate attempts to harass and destabilise [Natalie] and her family, creating an atmosphere of ongoing stress, fear, and anxiety.”

His weaponisation of the justice system began almost immediately, Ms Elder said.

After fleeing the man last year, Natalie sought a family violence intervention order, but later voluntarily revoked it when she herself was the subject of an order.

A “loophole” in Victorian legislation allows for the alarmingly simple filing of cross-applications by individuals who are subjects of a protection order.

“[Natalie] adamantly would not accept being classified as a perpetrator of violence. [Her ex] did not pursue his interim order, and this further clarified that the application was a tactic of system’s abuse … and it worked in this case.”

Natalie has received countless threatening messages from the man.

Natalie has received countless threatening messages from the man.

Natalie has since sought another order to protect herself but she and Ms Elder fear a repeat of his tactics.

“I cannot go through this ordeal once more,” she wrote in her letter.

“I will never forget the overwhelming distress I felt picking up that application from the police station. The situation was so disheartening that the officer even apologised, acknowledging that such actions can be used against victims and that it shouldn’t happen.”

Ms Elder said the impact on Natalie’s mental health and emotional wellbeing has been “severe”.

“The malicious reporting and harassment have created significant disruptions to the lives of her family members, further isolating her from her support network.

“The systemic failures in handling her case to date have allowed [her ex] to continue this pattern of abuse unchecked.”

Natalie’s former partner is a foreign national who was hastily granted permanent residency following a shocking bungle by the Department of Immigration.

News.com.au last month revealed the concerning circumstances that led government bureaucrats to effectively notify the violent man that Natalie was preparing to flee, then in an apparent attempt to correct the matter, offered him a visa seen as a “golden ticket”.

It was also revealed that the man appeared to have defrauded Medicare while in Australia on a working holiday visa – credible allegations brought to the attention of authorities but ultimately ignored.

Following news.com.au’s reporting, Immigration Minister Tony Burke met with his department to “discuss the systems that allowed this error to be made”.

“Given there has been no process before the courts in this case, I have asked my department to urgently advise me of my options”.

That was on October 21. Since then, news.com.au has made multiple inquiries about the status of Mr Burke’s review, but there has been no decision made about the man’s visa status.