Rosie Batty

Rosie Batty
Born Rosemary Anne Batty[1]
(1962-02-09) 9 February 1962[2][3]
Laneham, Nottinghamshire, England, United Kingdom[4]
Nationality British
Citizenship Australian
Known for Domestic violence campaigner
Children Luke Batty (2002–2014)
Awards 2015 Australian of the Year

Rosemary Anne "Rosie" Batty (born 9 February 1962) is an Australian domestic violence campaigner and the 2015 Australian of the Year.[5] Her role as a campaigner began in 2014 after her 11 year old son Luke Batty was murdered by his father Greg Anderson.[6] As a campaigner, she has spoken publicly about her experiences as a survivor of domestic violence in order to raise public awareness and advocate for changes in police responses, the delivery of support services and government engagement.[7] Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said of domestic violence in Australia that it "requires a great advocate and Rosie has been able to do that in a way that I think nobody has done before."[8] Batty is considered to have had a significant influence on national public attitudes, donations and allocations of funding, government initiatives, and police and legal procedures related to domestic violence in Australia.[7][9]

Background

Batty was born in England and settled in Australia in 1988, following an initial visit in 1986.[10]

Experience with domestic violence and the murder of Luke Batty

Batty met Greg Anderson in 1992 when they worked together at a recruitment company, and the two began a romantic relationship that lasted two years.[11] In 2001 they had another brief relationship which led to Batty's pregnancy.

In her book, written with Bryce Corbett, Batty states, on page 40, that a friend had visited her one night when Anderson was out and told her, "Greg tried to rape me in my house. I had to fight him off."

On page 41 she states, "In many instances I would wake up in the middle of the night and find him having sex with me, having let himself into my room and bed. I would be too shocked to say or do anything, and he would gratify himself and leave. For reasons I still don't really understand today, I never considered it rape. I think I was just so confused by him and this ill-defined relationship we had. He didn't ostensibly (sic) force me to have sex with him, but it was all so furtive and abnormal. Talking to my friend that night, something in me snapped and I thought, you bastard! I was furious with him - and with myself. It made me realise the emotional and physical abuse to which he had been subjecting me, and I resolved to cut him out of my life. Later that evening, Greg tried to come into my bedroom. I told him to fuck off and make plans to leave my house immediately."

He left while she was away on the following weekend.

Almost 8 years later, she sought him out again on her own initiative, as she relates on pages 45 and 46, and resumed a sexual relationship with him, and then when she became pregnant, decided to have the child, Anderson being the child's father.[12]

Their son Luke Batty was born on the 20th of June 2002.

Batty has said that Anderson's abuse began shortly after they met and increased when she fell pregnant.[13] Batty has expressed that Anderson was a loving father to Luke and she defended his right to have contact with their son.

Soon after Luke was born, Anderson physically assaulted Batty, prompting her to end their relationship, although Anderson remained in contact.[7] From June 2004 until February 2014, Anderson physically assaulted Batty and threatened to kill her on numerous occasions, leading to a number of arrests, charges and intervention orders.[7][11][13][14]

Anderson has been described by those who knew him as unstable, manipulative and aggressive.[7][11][13][14] He struggled to maintain a job and a place to live. In reporting on the 2014 coronial inquest into Luke Batty's death, Melissa Davey from The Guardian wrote of Anderson:

Inquest witnesses told of an arrogant and erratic man with a strong disrespect for authority. ... The question of Anderson’s mental illness has come up frequently, because although he prayed out loud, grew increasingly religious, had hallucinations and was aggressive, he also showed behaviour that was cold, intelligent and controlled, the inquest heard. While coroner Ian Gray heard that Anderson suffered from delusions and probably an undiagnosed mental illness, police officers also described him as "intelligent" and "calculating". Because Anderson distrusted doctors, or anyone he saw as having authority, he never sought help for his anger or received an official diagnosis of mental illness.[11]

In November 2012, Anderson was caught accessing child pornography at a public computer in a Melbourne Library. In January 2014, Anderson threatened to kill one of his flatmates, leading to the flatmate seeking an intervention order and Anderson being arrested but released shortly after. Because of privacy laws, Batty was not immediately made aware of these events.

In April 2013, Anderson wielded a knife to Luke when they were alone inside his car, reportedly telling him that "it could all end with this." Batty decided that she could no longer support Anderson having contact with Luke, and after reporting the incident to police the court ordered that Anderson could have no further contact with his son, and an intervention order which named both Batty and Luke as protected persons was granted. In July 2013, Anderson challenged the decision in a court hearing, where Batty was told for the first time about Anderson's child pornography investigation. Despite this, Anderson was granted access to Luke in public when he was playing sport.

The murder of Luke Batty

Luke Batty was described as "nice and fun".[7] He played cricket and was a Scouts member.

In February 2014, Anderson murdered eleven year old Luke at cricket practice on a sports oval in the outer Melbourne suburb of Tyabb.[15][16] Although parents and children were present, as people began to leave and were some distance away Anderson managed to isolate Luke inside a cricket net where he struck his son on the head and stabbed him to death. Anderson resisted arrest and threatened ambulance workers with his knife, later dying in hospital from police gunshots and self-inflicted stab wounds.

In the coronial inquest, police officers, child protection services and Batty stated that they never believed that Anderson would harm Luke, as although he had a history of violence against Batty, he was not violent toward his son.[11]

The murder of Luke Batty gained significant media attention in Australia.

Campaign against domestic violence

The morning after Luke's murder, Batty emerged from her home to speak to the media. She told the media:

I want to tell everybody that family violence happens to everybody, no matter how nice your house is, how intelligent you are. It happens to anyone and everyone.

Batty began speaking publicly about her experience. She became an advocate for domestic violence survivors and victims, and sought to address perceived systemic failures in responses to domestic violence in Australia.[6][17][18] She has spoken about a lack of communication between services, about public perceptions of domestic violence, about a lack of funding, and about police and legal procedures that she felt disempowered her ability to protect herself and her son.[7]

In 2014, Batty established the Luke Batty Foundation to assist women and children affected by domestic violence.[19]

In April 2014, she responded to a comment from journalist Joe Hildebrand on Ten Network's Studio 10, a TV panel show. In discussing proposed Victorian laws for compulsory reporting of child abuse cases, Hildebrand said that being "scared for your own safety, I’m sorry, it is not an excuse". In response, Batty said that she was shocked at the notion, and had thought that after her son's death, she had hoped that "something would come out of this that would actually show the difficulty women have in abusive relationships".[20]

Batty's story was instrumental in the establishment in 2015 of the Royal Commission into Family Violence in her home state of Victoria, which is due to report its findings in February 2016.[21][22]

Rosie Batty was appointed 2015 Australian of the Year.[5][9]

In September 2015 she called on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to close Australian immigration detention facilities due to the incidence of rape and sexual assault.[23]

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ Witness Statement of Rosie Batty, Royal Commission into Family Violence, 6 August 2015.
  2. ↑ "Rosie Batty named Australian of the Year". Sky News (Australia). 25 January 2015. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  3. ↑ "Mother says Luke loved and trusted his father despite his problems". The Age. 13 February 2014. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  4. ↑ "Former Lincoln school pupil watches ex-partner batter their son to death with cricket bat in Australia". Lincolnshire Echo. 13 February 2014. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  5. 1 2 "Australian of the Year: Rosie Batty awarded top honour for efforts to stop family violence". ABC News (Australia). 25 January 2015. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  6. 1 2 Garner, Helen. "Mother courage – At Home with Rosie Batty". The Monthly. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Rosie's Story". www.abc.net.au. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  8. ↑ "Outgoing Australian of the Year Rosie Batty's legacy". ABC News. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  9. 1 2 "Australian of the Year Awards". www.australianoftheyear.org.au. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  10. ↑ Harari, Fiona (29 November 2014). "Mother courage: Rosie Batty's life after Luke". Good Weekend, The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Davey, Melissa (2014-11-02). "Luke Batty: killed by a father no one truly knew". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  12. ↑ A Mother's Story, Rosie Batty with Bryce Corbett, Harper Collins, 2015, ISBN 9781460750551
  13. 1 2 3 "Rosie Batty reveals her battle to stop killer Dad Greg Anderson's violence before son Luke's death". Herald Sun.
  14. 1 2 Hurley, David; Dowling, James (22 February 2014). "Making of Greg Anderson into the monster who killed his son, little Luke Batty". Herald Sun.
  15. ↑ Davey, Melissa (21 October 2014). "Rosie Batty hits back at questions about her actions before son Luke's murder". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  16. ↑ Davey, Melissa (22 October 2014). "Luke Batty's killer, Greg Anderson, was 'bad, not mad', police tell inquest". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  17. ↑ "Luke Batty's mother Rosie urges overhaul to prevent children's deaths". The Age. 28 August 2014. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  18. ↑ Singer, Melissa (15 February 2014). "Charity to mark Luke Batty's tragic death". The Age. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  19. ↑ "Luke Batty Foundation". Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  20. ↑ "Rosie Batty blasts Studio 10 host Joe Hildebrand on morning TV". news.com.au. 7 April 2014. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  21. ↑ Akerman, Pia (20 January 2015). "Australian of the year: Rosie Batty, a voice of family violence". The Australian. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  22. ↑ Batty, Rosie (21 January 2015). Domestic violence campaigner Rosie Batty welcomes Victorian royal commission (Streaming audio; transcript). Interview with Hamish Macdonald. Breakfast. ABC Radio National. Australia. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  23. ↑ Allard, Tom Rosie Batty takes on Malcolm Turnbull over detention centres: 'They must be shut down' 2 October 2015 Sydney Morning Herald

External links

Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Adam Goodes		 Australian of the Year
2015 		Succeeded by
David Morrison
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