Anthony Harvey has allegedly killed five people – his female partner Mara Lee Harvey, three-year-old Charlotte Kate Harvey, two-year-old twins Alice Ester and Beatrix Mae Harvey and 73-year-old Beverley Ann Quinn.
This is is the third mass killing related to family violence in WA this year alone. I’ve read the media reporting and I’ve seen what the WA Premier Mark McGowan had to say about it.
The Premier was in shock, just like the people that elected him.
He said, ‘Not again’. I share that sentiment.
Not again, indeed. How many people have to die before our leaders start to do what so many domestic and family violence advocates have said needs to be done to prevent this loss of innocent life?
Mr McGowan said planning for and preventing mass killing events was difficult.
“They don’t seem to have any rhyme or reason, and so planning or trying to prevent these things is not an easy thing to do,” he said.
“All you can say, and this is in a general sense rather than specific towards these events, is anyone who has any negative thoughts or negative feelings, there are services out there for you if you want to contact them to deal with any mental health issues.”
But the thing is – we actually do have an idea on how to prevent these kinds of killings. But most of our politicians refuse to talk about it.
They’re ready to talk about the “horror” and the “carnage” and the “tragedy”.
They’re ready to start telling people with mental health issues to get help because there are “services out there for you”.
Good to know.
But, Premier, why aren’t you and your peers ready to talk about misogyny? Why are you not ready to broach the core issue of male entitlement, power, control and gender inequality?
Why are you and your peers not labelling this for what it appears to be – a man exercising power, control and homicidal force over those he deems to be inferior to him?
Without real leadership, our country will keep watching on as men murder more women and children and our leaders opine after the fact that there was little we can do about it.
Show some guts and start making changes. I’m angry because this spineless ‘leadership’ that pervades Australian politics all but guarantees that this will happen again, even though we all know that it doesn’t have to.
#NotOneMoreNiki #PVAW #VAW #AusPol