Rosie Batty: ‘do more to fight home violence’

Rosie Batty says greater awareness of family violence has placed immense pressure on frontline services.

Rosie Batty has acknowledged her role in raising awareness of the family violence epidemic in Australia has placed immense pressure on underfunded frontline services, as she warned the battle was far from won.

At the end of her term as Australian of the Year, Ms Batty said she had achieved what she set out to do — increase awareness, understanding and respect for family violence victims — but urged Australians to “remove our arrogance” and recognise that in some areas we are “quite behind” other countries in responding to the crisis.

The fierce campaigner, whose son Luke was killed by his father at a cricket ground in February 2014, said domestic violence had not worsened during her tenure but might “appear worse” because of the intense focus.

“With the feedback I’ve been given this year, I think I’ve played a really significant part in raising people’s awareness,” Ms Batty told The Australian.

“What that has done and what it does do is create a lot of pressure for support services that have to deal with people needing support. It’ll seem to get worse before it gets better. It’s a double-edged sword but … it starts with awareness.”

After speaking at more than 250 conferences and reaching more than 70,000 people, Ms Batty said one of the most “frustrating and incredibly confusing” times of her year had been the government’s apparent cuts to community legal services.

Ms Batty wants the country to start a “long-term approach” to combat abuse towards women and children and intends to continue her advocacy while her campaign has momentum.

“I do see that there’s improved leadership in this space, absolutely. Is it sufficient? There’s always going to be room for improvement,” she said.

Revealing she is in talks with the Turnbull government about a possible advisory role and has also been approached by the Victorian government, she will spend the next few weeks considering job options.

Ms Batty said she now felt proud of her Australian of the Year title despite thinking at the time of her appointment she was not “good enough”.

If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, family or domestic violence, call 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit www.1800RESPECT.org.au