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🇦🇺 Australia /Crime & Justice

Woman says disclosure scheme could have prevented intimate partner abuse

From ABC Australia · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • A woman identified as Sarah shared her experience of intimate partner abuse, stating a disclosure scheme could have prevented her suffering.
  • She described a pattern of "love bombing" followed by emotional, financial, and physical abuse by her ex-partner, who was a repeat offender.
  • The article highlights East Gippsland, Victoria, as having the highest rate of family violence incidents in the state, with national data showing an increase in family violence offenders.

Sarah, a woman who endured years of physical, emotional, and financial abuse from her ex-partner, believes a disclosure scheme could have protected her from the intimate partner violence she experienced. It was only after she fled that she discovered she was not his first victim.

Quite often these perpetrators come across so lovely and so loving … but if I had known that, even at the start of the relationship, I wouldn't have packed up my life and moved in at the start.

— SarahDescribing how abusers can initially appear charming and how prior knowledge of their behavior could have prevented her from entering the relationship.

"Quite often these perpetrators come across so lovely and so loving … but if I had known that, even at the start of the relationship, I wouldn't have packed up my life and moved in at the start," she said. Sarah explained that abusive relationships often begin with intense affection, or "love bombing," before gradually deteriorating into abuse. Her own experience included severe emotional, financial, and physical abuse.

It got quite bad. There was a lot of emotional abuse, there was financial abuse … and then the physical [abuse] got quite bad.

— SarahDetailing the progression and severity of the abuse she experienced.

Sarah obtained a family violence intervention order and left with her daughter. Her ex-partner was convicted and sentenced to a community corrections order for charges including recklessly causing injury. Despite her background in family violence work, Sarah found herself trapped in the toxic relationship. She was the fourth woman to have intervention orders against her ex-partner, a realization that intensified her own trauma.

Family violence does not discriminate.

— SarahEmphasizing the widespread nature of family violence.

The article points to East Gippsland, Victoria, as an area with the highest rate of family violence incidents in the state, with 4,655 incidents per 100,000 people. This rate is increasing locally, even as it decreased statewide. Nationally, the number of family violence offenders dealt with by police rose by 8% in 2024/25, reaching a five-year high.

I was the fourth woman and that just impacted even more what I was going through.

— SarahReflecting on the impact of discovering her abuser's history with other victims.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by ABC Australia. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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