Rachel presented a member’s statement, reflecting on the 16 days of activism against family and intimate partner violence. She spoke about the tragic murder of Hannah Clarke and her three children by their respective partner and father, with police ignoring multiple reports of violence and abuse until it was too late. Rachel calls on the government to direct their ‘tough on crime’ approach to address the systemic failures that lead to these tragic but preventable consequences.
Thursday the 4th of December, 2025
Victorian Legislative Council
Rachel Payne (South-Eastern Metropolitan):
Today I would like to reflect on the 16 days of activism, and this year’s theme is ‘No Excuse’. The tragic and entirely preventable deaths of Hannah Clarke and her children are once again in the news, but more needs to be said about the systemic failures that led to them.
Pattern of police collusion
Hannah Clarke reached out to the police multiple times. The police minimised and ignored the perpetrator’s previous convictions and his escalating behaviour. When he breached his intervention order, they decided he did not pose a risk. The police officers who attended when he kidnapped his daughter told him how to challenge those protection orders. Yes, that is right, they told a man who had kidnapped his child to get friends to say he was a good dad. The police officer that Hannah was in regular contact with received no family violence specialist training, even though she tried her best.
Pleas for help unanswered
Hannah Clarke did everything we tell victims to do: she left her abuser and she reached out to the police. They knew about her allegations of assault, strangulation, stalking, rape and suspected child abuse. Even when Hannah and her children died, her story was still questioned by the police. The deaths of Hannah and her three children were preventable.
You want to get tough on crime? Well, let us start here. No more excuses. It is time we prioritised and properly funded family violence prevention and intervention.
Related:
- Police responses to family and domestic violence – Rachel Payne
- South-east MP welcomes funds to support domestic violence survivors in the Victorian budget – Rachel Payne
- South-East taskforce needed to stop region’s family violence epidemic – Rachel Payne
- Establish a family violence taskforce – Rachel Payne
- Misidentification of family violence aggressors – Rachel Payne
