Too many women and children are being failed by a broken system. So far this year 28 women have been killed in Australia. 131 women have been killed since the 1st of January 2024. These aren’t just numbers, they are people. They are mothers, daughters and sisters.

Survivors are re-traumatised through the courts. Children are left unprotected. Abusers reoffend. We are calling for stronger laws, harsher penalties, indefinite AVOs, automatic protection for children, the introduction of Clare’s Law, and the criminalisation of coercive control nationwide. This petition demands urgent, unified action because sympathy is meaningless without real change.

As a survivor of domestic violence, I know firsthand how the system meant to protect us fails us, not just once, but repeatedly. My children and I lived through fear, threats, and trauma, and even when we reached out for help, it was not enough. We are just one of countless families whose stories are never fully heard.

This petition is about more than one reform. It’s about real change across the whole system. We are calling for:

 • Harsher penalties for repeat and high-risk offenders

 • Indefinite or long term AVOs, especially when children are victims or witnesses

 • Automatic inclusion of children on AVOs to protect them from ongoing exposure to harm

 • The national introduction of Clare’s Law, giving people the legal right to know a partner’s violent history

 • Specialist domestic violence courts, bail reform, and trauma informed policing

 • And criminalising coercive control nationwide. Coercive control is one of the most dangerous and overlooked forms of abuse

Children grow up in the aftermath of domestic violence. Survivors live with its impact long after the police reports end. And too many don’t survive at all.

This is not a private issue, it’s a national crisis that requires urgent, united action.

We, call for the following legal reforms:

1. Criminalise Coercive Control

 • Recognise and criminalise coercive control nationwide.

 • Train police and courts to understand and respond to non physical patterns of abuse.

2. Increase Penalties for Repeat and High-Risk Offenders

 • Enforce harsher penalties for repeat offenders and breaches of AVOs.

 • Apply consecutive sentences, not concurrent, for multiple acts of abuse.

3. Create Specific Domestic Violence Offences

 • Introduce domestic violence as a distinct offence in criminal law.

 • Improve offender tracking and legal responses.

4. Introduce a National Serial Offender Register & Clare’s Law

 • Track repeat abusers across jurisdictions.

 • Implement Clare’s Law (Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme) to give people the legal Right to Ask and Right to Know a partner’s violent past which can be a life saving preventative tool.

5. Enforce Stronger Protections for Children

 • Automatically include children on all AVOs/DVOs where there is violence or threat in the home.

 • Enforce indefinite or long-term AVOs:

 • For repeat offenders

 • Where children are witnesses or victims of the violence

 • Impose stricter penalties for harming children or committing violence in their presence.

 • Ensure courts prioritise child safety above shared custody.

 • Fund ongoing trauma recovery for affected children.

6. Reform Bail and Parole Laws

 • Refuse bail for high risk offenders.

 • Enforce strict parole conditions with mandatory monitored behaviour change programs and ankle monitoring

7. Improve Police and Court Responses

 • Mandatory training in DV, trauma, and coercive control for police, prosecutors, and judges.

 • Allow victimless prosecutions using available evidence to reduce trauma on survivors.

8. Expand Specialist Domestic Violence Courts

 • Fund and implement trauma informed courts with wraparound support services for victims and families in every state.

This is not just my story. It’s the story of thousands of women and children across Australia. We don’t want to be the next statistic. We demand real protection, accountability, and justice.

Please, sign this petition. Let’s create a system that finally protects women and children.

Signed,

Rhiannon Purcell

Sydney, Australia