On the 3rd of December, 2025 I attended an event held at Parliament House here in Tasmania for the 16 days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. I gave a speech on behalf of my Mum and the importance of Jacqui’s Law. The speech is included below:

My name is Shakira Robertson and I am the proud daughter of Jacqui Purton.

My mother was a vibrant, outspoken and deeply loving woman. She had an enormous heart. She was the person people turned to when they needed someone in their corner. She celebrated her children loudly and without hesitation. She ended every phone call with “I love you,” and every goodnight came with a reminder of how much we meant to her. As a single mother of four, she raised us through circumstances that no family should ever have to endure and that is domestic and family violence.

On 13 March 2023, our family’s world was irreparably changed. News outlets quickly reported that “Tasmanian mother of four hit and left for dead”. My mother became known publicly as the thirteenth woman to die that year. To many, she became a statistic, a headline, often misreported. But my mother was a person, a mother, a daughter and a woman who deserved far more dignity and protection than she ever received.

For four years, my mother suffered physical, emotional, sexual and financial abuse, as well as coercive control, at the hands of the man who ultimately took her life. She was repeatedly threatened. She was told she would be run over and buried. On three separate occasions, she was chased with a vehicle. On one of those occasions, she had to run up an embankment and jump a barbed wire fence to escape. Days later, the tyre marks were still visible. Yet these incidents were given little weight in what became a two-year court process.

During that process, my mother was subjected to victim-blaming including suggestions that perhaps the incident occurred because “she did not move out of the way quickly enough.”

This year, I delivered a victim impact statement before the Supreme Court of Tasmania. In front of my family, the offender, his family and the presiding judge, I explained that I had to be blindfolded to say my final goodbye to my mother due to the extent of the injuries inflicted upon her.

On 3 July 2025, James Austin was sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to manslaughter a downgrade from the original charge placed on him which was murder. He will serve only eight years. My mother is gone forever.

In the months since sentencing, I have launched a campaign of profound importance not only to honour my mother but to protect others. This initiative is called Jacqui’s Law. Currently in Tasmania, motor vehicles are not recognised as weapons. As a result, cases like my mothers are frequently downgraded from murder to manslaughter, or even reckless driving. Despite clear histories of domestic and family violence, prior threats and previous use of vehicles as tools of intimidation or harm. We are told there are “too many grey areas,” and that establishing intent is too difficult.

Jacqui’s Law calls on the Tasmanian Government to take two clear steps:

Recognise motor vehicles as weapons in the context of violent offending.

Treat the use of a motor vehicle as a weapon with the same level of severity as the use of a firearm.

I am also asking that this reform be named in honour of my mother, Jacqui Purton the woman who shaped me, loved me and protected me.

This change will not bring her home. It will not erase the immense pain carried by me, my siblings and our family every day. But it can save lives. It can prevent another family from experiencing the lifelong grief that we now live with.

I close with one question for you all:

If Jacqui Purton were your mother — what would you do?

My Mum’s killer James Austin was originally charged with her murder to which he plead not guilty. The murder charge was withdrawn and downgraded to manslaughter which he plead guilty to and he was sentenced in 2025 to 13 years jail, however he will be eligible to apply for parole after just 8 years. With time served having been in custody since March 2023, he will be eligible for release in a few short years.

Due to Tasmania not recognising vehicles as weapons, there is a huge disparity in sentencing in my Mum’s case, had he used a gun it is likely that he would be serving a much harsher sentence.

Austin was also subject to a Family Violence Order at the time that was supposed to protect my Mum, Justice Michael Brett describing his crimes as a “serious example of family violence… a serious breach”. I am calling on the Government to provide stronger a stronger sentencing regime for domestic and family violence offenders, in particular those who use vehicles in their offending.. 

At the moment I am waiting for responses from Government officials in response to my lobbying for Jacqui’s law. Please continue to share our petition in the meantime. 

Thank you, 

Shakira

More information:

https://australianfemicidewatch.org/2025/07/03/well-never-know-what-her-final-moments-were-like/

https://tasmaniantimes.com/2025/11/jacquis-law-demands-vehicles-treated-like-guns-in-dv/

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2L9cQWU4pe39l0HR5SF6CO (She Matters Podcast episode)