I spoke recently in Parliament House, along with the Honourable Elise Archer MP, Attorney-General, and James Oxley, from the Legal Aid Commission of Tasmania, regarding the recent Criminal Code Amendment Act 2022, namely non-fatal strangulation becoming a standalone offence rather than a common assault charge. For me, this is an important change and a positive step for victims of abuse, particularly when the abuse is non-fatal strangulation, choking and suffocation. His is the speech I gave at Parliament House.
Over a period of 17 years in an abusive relationship, I experienced non-fatal strangulation multiple times. One incident most likely caused two brain aneurysms. These were clipped in neurosurgery in 2016.
Non-fatal strangulation, choking and suffocation in an abusive relationship are huge red flags that you are with a violent and dangerous abuser and a precursor to escalating violence that often leads to the murder of a partner (overwhelmingly a female partner) and/or children. Homicide is in fact seven times more likely. Law reform came too late for Jodi Eaton. The man who killed Jodi had a history of non-fatally choking women that went back 17 years before her murder.
Given what I have learned about the seriousness of these abuses, I now understand the urgency behind Tasmanian law being reformed so that stronger penalties are imposed on perpetrators.
Non-fatal strangulation is a highly personal, close-up abusive behaviour with an abuser in your face and his hands around your neck, squeezing to the point of a victim losing consciousness. I’m sorry to be graphic, but I need to impress upon you all the seriousness and horror of this type of abuse. Worse, the abuser usually feels little or no remorse for their actions. Nor were they adequately prosecuted until law reform came into being in Australian states. Now Tasmania joins in making non-fatal strangulation a standalone offence rather than a charge of common assault.
I am thankful this form of abuse is now a standalone offence because laws not recognising the impact of this violence have been shown to let abusers get away with their crimes, making an abuser less likely to stop abusing. This leaves victims continuing to live with violence under threat of death.
My abuser has never faced consequences for his numerous attempts and threats to murder me, nor has he shown any remorse for his actions, to this day denying such abuse or diminishing it to “arguments common between couples”.
Our law reform supports Family Law court progression towards recognising and responding appropriately to family violence. Associated bodies outside of the court, such as social institutions, police and criminal courts, are making progress in this regard.
When I went through Queensland family court 2003-09, despite the severity of non-fatal strangulation, choking and attempted suffocation by my abuser, even speaking of severe physical abuse went against me. Rather than consider the long-term violent abuse by my partner and the children’s father, the two times I’d retaliated defending myself when he attacked me, were brought before the presiding judge, with his solicitor and barrister scrutinising my behaviour and discussing it at length as evidence of my poor character.
I asked for supervised access only as I tried to keep my children safe. However, my allegation of being choked by the father sometimes in view of our children, was disregarded as having little significance on the children and the abuser was given unsupervised access.
After my experiences in court, I felt it was time the family law system caught up with reality and responded in an appropriate way that counteracts the dangerous bias abused mothers are still confronting in court. So I began campaigning for non-fatal strangulation law reform, together with a core group of women.
In relation to abused mothers currently going through Family Law courts, the advent of non-fatal strangulation law reform means this abuse is more likely to be recognised in family court as serious behaviour, giving courts pause before they assign unsupervised access or custody of children to the father. An abused parent’s disclosure of non-fatal strangulation may now be considered rather than discredited or dismissed in court. No longer might a mother bringing up serious abuse be accused of being the cause of the children’s desire to distance themselves from their father, rather than his abuse. This is the family court acting in our children’s best interests.
The new reform will better protect victims of family violence by imposing a severe sentence that acts as a deterrent, punishes the offender, and expresses disapproval of the conduct and vindicates the victim. The penalties imposed serve as a warning to others that detection and conviction will result in severe consequences. Severe repercussions also show abusers themselves that this form of violence is serious and not tolerated by society. Law reform may save another woman from being murdered by their intimate partner, so it is a huge and meaningful step in the right direction that existing laws around non-fatal strangulation have been reformed.
Another positive of law reform important to note is that past charges of common assault meant non-fatal strangulation was not recorded on an offender’s criminal record, therefore raising no red flag for police to develop a better risk assessment of the abuser. This often led to decreased protection for victims with negative consequences. Law reform will see a recording of non-fatal strangulation specifically on the criminal record, easily accessible to all courts (and that includes family courts) and areas of law enforcement.
The new standalone offence gives police clearer guidelines for charging an abuser who uses non-fatal strangulation in the abusive relationship. The introduction of the offence in other Australian states has underpinned training for first responders, including police, ambulance officers and hospital admissions staff. They now learn about the dangers and risks of non-fatal strangulation, how to ask about it and how to respond. With law reform in place here, Tasmanian police have that same benefit.
Legal reform in this direction becomes an ally in defending your rights and makes for a safer community.
I welcome the introduction of non-fatal strangulation as a stand-alone criminal offence in Tasmania as it allows the Tasmanian criminal-justice system to prosecute acts of strangulation, choking and suffocation in a manner proportionate to the severe physical and psychological harm such abuse causes.
I have been campaigning along with Alina Thomas of, Engender Equality; Yvette Cehtel and Elise Whitmore of Women’s Legal Service, and Ruth Forrest, MLC for law reform. Independent Andrew Wilkie, and Greens MPs Cassy O' Connor and Rosalie Woodruff also spoke of the need for law reform. In particular, without Alina Thomas, Yvette Cehtel, Elise Whitmore and Ruth Forrest, I wouldn’t have progressed far in my campaign. Their support has been invaluable.
My primary motivation for campaigning stemmed from lived experience of non-fatal strangulation and the devastating mental effect my ex-partner’s abuse had on me. I would not wish others to experience the trauma and subsequent years of counselling such behaviour causes.
It appears that our campaigning in the past few months has resulted in our government falling into line with the rest of Australia in making non-fatal strangulation a standalone offence.
Having a public voice does make a difference!
Legal reform in this direction becomes an ally in defending your rights and makes for a safer community. I thank those advocates I worked alongside campaigning for reform and a thank you to the Tasmanian government for listening to the public and responding accordingly and for legislating non-fatal strangulation law reform.
Deborah Thomson moved to Tasmania with her daughter in 2010, and now lives with her partner of nine years and a parrot. She moved to escape domestic violence and, inspired by her new partner, wrote her first book, Whose Life Is It Anyway? Recognising and Surviving Domestic Violence, to help others recognise abuse (and in particular coercive control), in the home, and to increase their motivation to leave earlier. After publishing her first book, she became a trained advocate through Engender Equality, a non-government Tasmanian organisation working with people and communities impacted by family violence. Deborah Thomson advocates for survivors of family violence, speaking at domestic violence events across Tasmania, through media channels and podcasts. She recently completed a second book, detailing lived experience with domestic violence by her then husband, spanning 17 years from 1985 to 2003. This book is now used in Tasmania as an information resource for family violence counsellors and students on practicals.