Mosman woman's death puts spotlight firmly on domestic violence

With the current news about the death of a Mosman woman, questions have been raised as to the nature of her relationship with her partner and whether there was domestic violence involved.

As stated in a Sydney Morning Herald Article, "Statistics show a victim is often attacked by the person closest to them, with 43 per cent of the 115 females and 100 males killed in domestic homicides in NSW between 2003 and 2008 attacked by their partner. In 2010, almost half of all domestic assaults were inflicted by a man on his female partner."

NSW Rape Crisis Centre executive officer Karen Willis said in incidents of domestic violence people often ask ''why doesn't she leave?'' but the question should really be ''why doesn't he stop?''

''It's about masculinity and how men make meaning of themselves and their lives and their role and position,'' Ms Willis said. ''The majority of men do that in non-violent and excellent ways. What they need to do is encourage the minority to step up to the mark. The message needs to be: domestic violence is unacceptable, the offender is responsible. The offender's behaviour is wrong here.''

The statistics showed domestic assaults and homicides have been relatively stable since 2003, while non-domestic assaults, murders and killings declined.

Minister for Women Pru Goward said the government was developing a domestic violence framework that would address privacy laws to make communication between agencies more effective especially in the case of making communication between agencies like police and health and welfare services much easier.

''We are increasingly focused on getting women to stick with their court process and have men charged with assault.''

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