If you live in New South Wales, or you have spent any time there in recent weeks, you would know that the issue of alcohol-fuelled violence has escalated to something of a state crisis. Even if you live elsewhere in Australia it is unlikely you would have escaped the attention currently being given to this issue.
The drunken and dangerous antics that dominate areas like Sydney’s Kings Cross after dark are firmly in the spotlight. A spate of ‘king-hits’, two of which were tragically fatal, and a series of unprovoked assaults with devastating consequences, have triggered the response. It has been called an epidemic, an emergency of sorts, and it has been treated accordingly.
The New South Wales Premier Barry O’Farrell has been drafting new laws to deter offenders with tough mandatory minimum sentences and impose lock-downs and curfews on venues. Tackling the national drinking problem and the violence that inevitably follows has been front-page news for weeks. It has filled inches and inches of columns and editorials. There have been press conferences daily and lobby groups calling for action.
Barry O’Farrell has been unapologetic about his stance: “The community wants strong action,” he has explained. And it does. Even this morning four of the five most popular online stories on Sydney Morning Herald concern the crackdown on alcohol.
This issue has captured the attention – and the emotions — of the community. The deaths of two innocent and beloved young men, victims of senseless crime, are haunting. It is impossible not to empathise and feel tremendous sorrow for the families of Thomas Kelly and Daniel Christie. Their families’ is a fate no one should face. Perhaps this is why this issue has attracted the scrutiny it has; because none of us wants to see a life cut short by senseless violence. That is not a standard, as a community, we want to accept.
But if that’s the case, why is the epidemic of domestic violence – which causes at least one woman a week to die at the hands of her partner – not getting the same attention? Why is domestic violence not front page news? Why does it not dominate column inches and the minds and policies of politicians, every single week? If an Australian woman dying every single week isn’t an epidemic worthy of urgent action, what is?
Domestic violence is confronting. Even more confronting than senseless acts of brutality against strangers in the street. And perhaps that’s why, collectively, alcohol and violence gets more attention. Because it’s out in the open for everyone to see; it seems like fighting on the streets should be an easier problem to tackle.
Domestic violence is more insidious because it happens behind closed doors. But that is precisely why it needs community concern and attention; so we can bring it out in the open. So we give victims and perpetrators of domestic violence a clear message; that it’s deplorable and not a standard Australia abides.
Any community that refuses to tolerate men being killed on the street must also condemn women being killed in their homes. It is time we give the latter the attention it needs.