‘Where is the outrage?’: Community calls after Alice Springs mum’s murder

Hours before a Hidden Valley mum was murdered she sent a text to her daughter: ‘Please don’t cry for me’.

WHEN an Alice Springs mother was burnt to death by her partner her community was left with a single question: “Where was the national outrage?”.

On Thursday Federal Women’s Safety Minister Senator Anne Ruston described her visit to the Hidden Valley town camp where two weeks earlier a 34-year-old woman was murdered, on November 5.

Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker revealed the woman was seeking shelter from her violent 36-year-old parner when he poured accelerant over the door and set it alight.

The 34-year-old woman suffered significant burns, and passed away in hospital two days later. The alleged offender died as a result of the burns seven days later.

Mr Chalker said only hours earlier she texted her young daughter: “Today your dad is going to kill me. I love you, please don’t cry for me”.

On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women Senator Ruston took to the parliament to share the sentiment from the remote Territory community.

“Just about every single person said to me, ‘Where was the national outrage?’,” she said.

”(It) was an utter tragedy, and something that shocked — and should shock — every Australian to their very core. There absolutely should be national outrage, but there wasn’t.”

Ms Ruston said the woman was known to be at risk of domestic violence.

In Australia a woman is killed by her partner on average every 11 days, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women overrepresented in the fatal statistics.

“That is why we must listen to the voices of Indigenous women and girls, to make sure that their solutions to this problem are delivered,” Ms Ruston said.

On Thursday the Senate approve a Greens motion for an inquiry investigating missing and murdered First Nations women and children in Australia.

WA Senator and Yamatji Noongar woman Dorinda Cox said her motion would look at the systemic causes of violence against First Nations women and children, including underlying social, economic, cultural, institutional and historical causes.

Senator Cox said she knew of 76 missing and murdered First Nations women across Australia, yet the data around those cases were inconsistent and ad hoc between each state and territory jurisdiction.

“As a former police officer, I know there is a different urgency into looking for First Nations women and girls,” Senator Cox said.

“It is devastating to hear from families who don’t understand why the system does not take these cases seriously.”

Fellow Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe said preventing violence against First Nations women required addressing cultural trauma and the legacies of colonisation.

“We hear the cries for systemic change, to prevent any more black women or black children being murdered,” she said.

The Greens Senate was backed by Liberal and Labor support.

Originally published as ‘Where is the outrage?’: Community calls after Alice Springs mum’s murder