'Don't bastardise all men': Hanson claims domestic violence double standard on Today
Pauline Hanson has claimed there is a double standard in Australia when it comes to domestic violence incidents in the wake of the unspeakable tragedy that took place in Brisbane last week.
In a TV interview on Today on Monday, Ms Hanson condemned the “horrendous” actions of Rowan Baxter, who set his wife and three children on fire in a car before killing himself.
“It was treacherous what he did to his former wife and children,” she said.
But the controversial Queensland senator, who has regularly argued that men receive unfavourable treatment in family courts due to a bias towards mothers, suggested there is too much focus on the violent misdeeds of men.
“This has been, for a week, in the news nearly every day about this horrific tragedy but we don’t hear much about it when a woman has murdered her children by driving a car into a tree (and) threw out a suicide note,” she said.
Ms Hanson was seemingly referring to the death of Queensland woman Charmaine Harris McLeod and her four children in May last year which was investigated as a murder-suicide, and covered extensively in the media.
Invoking the turn of phrase which saw the lead detective handling the Baxter case stood down following public outcry last week, Ms Hanson said “a lot of people are driven to these acts for one reason or another”.
“Don’t bastardise all men, or women for that matter,” she said.
“This is why I pushed for the family law inquiry. To get behind what is happening in all of this.”
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Ms Hanson was given a prominent role in leading a parliamentary inquiry into the family court system by the government last year, which is due to report in October 2020.
“Hopefully the family law inquiry will get to the bottom of it,” Ms Hanson told Today on the issue of domestic violence.
“Let's get to the bottom of it. Why it is happening and hopefully find the answers so it never happens again,” she said.
Rowan Baxter had recently rejected a shared custody deal with his wife, the ABC reported. According to a close friend, the former NRL player had only recently regained the right to contact his children under an amended domestic violence order (DVO) which his estranged wife Hannah took out against him after he allegedly kidnapped their eldest daughter on Boxing Day.
However, he lost the right to see his children again shortly after for allegedly assaulting his former partner.
‘Men are the main perpetrators’
During the Today Show segment, Melbourne radio presenter Neil Mitchell said he agreed with Ms Hanson that reform was needed in the family law court system.
“If AVOs (Apprehended Violence Order) worked, Hannah and the kids wouldn’t be dead. The system is not working, protecting men or women,” he said.
“There are many more women victims, there is no question about that. Men are the main perpetrators but the system is not working.”
Of those who have experienced domestic violence since the age of 15, women are victims of domestic violence at the hands of a partner at three times the rate of men, according to data from the ABS.
According to White Ribbon, on average, one woman a week is murdered by her current or former partner in Australia.
Ms Hanson has been very outspoken on the issue, in part, coloured by the experience of her son who in 2016 pleaded guilty in a Cairns court to breaching a Domestic Violence Order.
Ms Hanson has used parliamentary privilege to make accusations against her son’s former partner and previously stated that women lie to family courts in order to gain custody of children during disputes, citing men’s rights groups.
The decision by Prime Minister Scott Morrison to hand the family court inquiry to Ms Hanson has been described in some sections of the media as “a boneheaded gift for Pauline Hanson and men's rights activists”
Anti-family violence campaigner Rosie Batty is among those who have called for her to be removed as co-chair of the inquiry while more than 76,000 people have signed a petition calling for the same.
If you or someone you know is in need of crisis or suicide prevention support, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14, Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 46 36. If you believe you are in immediate danger, please contact police on 000.
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