In March 2020, Drs Kate Johnson and Ada Chan attended the Sydney Vigil for Hannah Clarke and her 3 kids outside NSW parliament house. This was our speech:
Smiling Hannah and her 3 beautiful little children could be anyone we know. All Hannah wanted was to live free from violence and abuse. Instead she and her children have been robbed of their futures and another family is grieving and haunted by the actions of an ordinary man, who wanted to exert control over his exwife. They could be any of us. They could be us, so pervasive is abuse behind closed doors and how impotent the system is to protect us. Today we grieve for Hannah , Laianah, Aaliyah and Trey. We also grieve for the victims, first nations, the disabled, many other women- who do not make the news. Their lives should never be forgotten and their deaths should not be in vain. DAVTW calls on the government to move beyond condolences and kind words, to end the madness that turns family violence into an ideological war, to listen- truly listen to experts, reinstate funding where it has been cut and give more much much more where evidence says that it is necessary, across the board to policing, crisis and noncrisis housing, social services, legal support and health. I repeat, you must listen to experts, real experts, otherwise the senseless loss of life will continue and your condolences mean nothing.
