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A VICTIM of family violence on the Border has spoken out about the importance of intervention orders applying across state lines.
The mother, who did not want to be named for safety reasons, lived with a violent partner for eight years before she built up the courage to leave five years ago.
But she said getting out was only the beginning of a horrifying ordeal.
“The violence I experienced was quite severe, especially with two young children involved, I consider myself and my kids lucky to be alive.
“Just the whole process of trying to get out of the relationship and going through the court system was horrific, it made it so much worse.
“But, now I am glad to hear they are looking into intervention orders.
“When you live on the border — I didn’t know at the time that having an intervention order in Victoria meant nothing in NSW and it was never mentioned to me.”
The woman said state boundaries were just one of the challenges women and children faced when trying to escape a violent home.
She said she hoped both the national plan for domestic violence orders and the royal commission into family violence would bring some of the issues into the limelight.
“Year after year I had to keep going back for intervention orders because they never lasted longer than 12 months — people just don’t understand.
“I hope through all these issues they are looking into, hopefully it addresses the problems with the system.
“What women have to go through to keep themselves and their kids safe, it shouldn’t be that hard, it’s almost impossible sometimes.”
The woman said she would like to see family violence treated the same as every other kind of violence and didn’t want it to be ignored any longer.
“I was getting in trouble for not taking my kids around to visit their dad.
“They kept saying to me in family court ‘he’s not on trial for what he has done, it’s just about visitation’, it’s like it didn’t matter what he had done.
“It seems to be a whole different ball game and I don’t know why it is treated differently.
“The perpetrators need to be held accountable for their actions — it is pretty simple really.
“I just hope with all this publicity that it helps someone gain that courage or strength to get out of the situation and just go.
If you or someone you know is currently experiencing family violence, call the Centre Against Violence on 0357 222 203 or the Victorian State wide Family Violence Service, Safe-Steps, on 1800 015 188.