My daughter, Holly Anne Davidson, just wanted to be the best mum to her daughter and live her life free of violence and coercive control.
Holly suffered an unexplained catastrophic head injury and died on March 5, 2020, in Darwin. 
She was only 38 years old.
Holly endured years of coercive and physical violence, allegedly perpetrated by her partner. He is a serving police officer.
When police were notified of the abuse, they failed to investigate the allegations against their own colleague, NT Coroner Greg Cavanagh said in his report following her inquest.
When Holly died, they failed to treat her death as suspicious, including setting up a crime scene, the inquest findings reveal.
Today, I am asking Australians to join me in calling on the Federal Government to implement Holly's Law.

How can police police their own colleagues?

Holly's Law would see a specialised federal taskforce formed to investigate allegations of domestic violence involving police members across the country, and a public inquiry into police-perpetrated abuse, so we can get a clearer picture and understanding of how widespread domestic violence is among police members.
The task force would ensure those investigating alleged police abusers are at arm's length to the perpetrators (in other words, colleagues not investigating colleagues).
Holly's case reveals major issues with how Australian police forces handle allegations of domestic violence within their ranks.
Mr Cavanagh, in his coronial report into Holly's death, noted victims of domestic violence by fellow officers faced additional barriers, including fears of reporting the crime and internal policing culture.
These were very much reflected in Holly's case - she feared reporting to police because she knew how her allegations would be handled and the likelihood she would suffer further trauma.
As Holly's mum, I had major concerns about reporting the abuse to NT Police for fear that his colleagues or he himself would become aware of this.
Mr Cavanagh, in his findings, said NT Police appeared to 'struggle with investigating their own members'.

The following information is provided by The RED HEART Campaign and Australian Femicide Watch.

A federal inquiry is needed to examine how widespread police-perpetrated domestic violence is, RED HEART founder Sherele Moody says.  

Currently, there is no comprehensive national dataset showing rates of domestic and family violence involving police.
However, Holly's inquest heard: "Reports from other jurisdictions suggest that the rate of domestic violence involving police officers is higher than the population at large and the rate at which action is taken (in the form of a DVO or prosecution) is lower than that of the population at large." Sherele says: "We cannot respond to - or erase - violence by police members if we do not understand the extent of it," 
"It is deeply problematic for serving members who abuse their partners to also investigate allegations of violence involving civilians," she says.
"We already know there are major flaws in how police respond to allegations of violence by civilians.
"Police routinely leak information like addresses and phone numbers of victims to their mates who are facing domestic violence allegations.
"Women are told to come back when they have evidence of violence, they're disbelieved when the abuser presents as calm and quiet while the victim is understandably emotional, they're even disbelieved when they have injuries and they are often mis-identified as the aggressor. "
A woman went to police earlier this year because she feared her partner would kill her. She was told: 'come back when you have evidence of physical injuries', Sherele says.  She was allegedly murdered a week later.
In the NT, a woman died as a direct result of her abuser’s actions on May 24, 2022. When the 24-year-old called police to report his abuse she was stone-walled and demeaned.
The last time police attended, the victim, who had a black eye and a swollen foot from days of abuse, was locked in the paddy wagon and she was the one who was interrogated.  Cops did not take him into custody or charge him. She feared a repeat so she never contacted police again. She was killed a short time after.
The Guardian has just published a damning expose into the actions of police before the murders of Hannah Clarke and her children in Queensland.
The failures were extensive and included two officers telling Hannah's killer Rowan Baxter how to challenge a police protection order in court. 
"If this happens to women who are not partnered to police, imagine what happen when police are charged with investigating allegations of abuse involving their own colleagues," Sherele says.

My daughter loved her job - they sacked her for a minor offence but kept her abuser on the payroll

Wearing the police uniform was Holly's second greatest achievement - the first was being a mum to her beautiful daughter.
She lost her job for drink-driving - and yet the man who allegedly abused her remains employed by NT Police.

Holly was weeks away from leaving him

Holly spent the last year of her life planning her escape route, including buying everything she needed for a new home and finding an income to support herself and her daughter.
She knew she had to get out to survive and she was just weeks away from that new beginning.
We laughed together over the pictures she purchased for her longed-for office. 
We spent Saturdays shopping for the things she needed to turn her house into a home.
Sundays were for planning and looking at rental properties. 
Holly, her little girl and I saw a promising future.  She was excited and happy for what awaited around the corner. But she never made it.
Please stand with me as I try to change the story for women who walk in the shoes of my beautiful and only child.