Saturday, June 20, 2015

HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY! LUKE BATTY (20 JUNE 2002 TO 12 FEBRUARY 2014)



We, the comrades of Unit 1012: The VFFDP, wishes Luke Batty a happy 13th birthday, he was born on 20 June 2002. We will remember him every year on that date and also on 12 February. Let us remember how he lived on this earth and we also congratulate his mother, Rosie Batty for winning the 2015 Australian of the Year award. We offer her our condolences as it is one of our policies to remember the victim and their families. We will always support his mother, Rosie Batty and his loved ones.

We will also endorse The Luke Batty Foundation. Let us support Rosie in combating family violence.

My son Luke was murdered by his own father at cricket practice. He would have turned 13 today.

Please stand with me beside every victim of family violence at www.neveralone.com.au

Together we will give victims a voice and demand our leaders act.

Rosie Batty, Australian of the Year


Luke Batty. Source: News Corp Australia

Australian of the year 2015: Rosie Batty’s speech text, pays tribute to son

January 25, 2015 9:20PM

THIS is the text of Rosie Batty’s speech tonight after being named Australian of the year 2015 at a ceremony in Canberra.

“Thank you Mr Prime Minister. I am truly honoured. I would like to dedicate this award to my beautiful son, Luke. He is the reason I have found my voice and I am able to be heard.

“Whilst we celebrate the wonderful country that we live in today, there remains a serious epidemic across our nation. No matter where you live, family violence exists in every pocket of every neighbourhood. It does not discriminate and it is across all sections of our society. Family violence may happen behind closed doors but it needs to be brought out from these shadows and into broad daylight. One in six women has experienced physical or sexual abuse by a current or former partner including some of those celebrating with us today. One in four children and at least one woman a week is killed.

“Indigenous women experience even greater family violence. The statistics are unacceptable, indisputable and, if they did happen on our streets, there would be a public outcry. To our government, we need your strong leadership to change these rising statistics and your investment into both preventing the violence and long-term secure funding to our specialist women services to deliver the intensive support so desperately needed.

“To the Australian people, look around. Do not ignore what you see and what you know is wrong. Call out sexist attitudes and speak up when violence against women is trivialised. To men, we need you to challenge each other and become part of the solution. Raise the conversation and don’t shy away from this uncomfortable topic. We cannot do this without you. “To the women and children who are unsafe, in hiding or living in fear, who have changed their names, left their extended families and moved from their communities to find safety, you do not deserve to live a life that is dictated by violence. You are not to blame.

“Violence towards anyone, man, woman or child, is never acceptable and never the right choice. It is similarly not okay. As the Australian of the Year, I’m committed to building greater campaigns to educate and challenge community attitudes. I am on a path to expose family violence and to ensure that victims receive the respect, support and safety that they deserve. And to Luke, my little man, you did not die in vain and will not be forgotten. You are beside me on this journey and with me every step of the way. Thank you.”

Australian of the Year Rosie Batty dedicates award to her son
Published on Jan 25, 2015
Australian of the Year Rosie Batty dedicates her award to her son Luke, who was killed by his father. Read more here: http://ab.co/1zItN4p




A letter from Rosie Batty on what should have been her son’s 13th birthday

  Rosie Batty
  June 20, 2015 6:21AM

Today is a day that no mother should have to go through. Today is the day my beautiful boy Luke should have turned 13.

If life had worked out as it ought to have, I would have woken him this morning with his favourite breakfast. He would have dragged his surly teenage self out of bed and while I made a fuss and gave him his present, I would have marvelled at how my boy was so quickly morphing into a man.

But instead, all I have is memories and a constant, aching emptiness. Memories of my Luke, forever frozen in the body of an eleven-year-old. Never to graduate from high school, never to don a backpack and set off to explore the world, never to fall in love or have his heart broken.

Today is a day that will be unique to me, for no other mother had a son like my Luke. Yet sadly, it is also a day that will bring a pain tragically familiar to many other mothers: the birthday of a loved one lost to family violence.

Since Luke was killed, I have faced a fundamental choice: rage against the senselessness of his death, or channel that energy and try to make it count for something. Luke was too special not to leave a legacy, and I am determined to forge one for him.


So it is today that I launch the Never Alone campaign on behalf of the Luke Batty Foundation.

I want to build a nationwide support group of women and men who commit to standing beside the victims of family violence.

Luke was too special not to leave a legacy, and I am determined to forge one for him. Picture: Rob Leeson.
I want us all to have uncomfortable conversations about the way family violence services are funded, and about the way the police and judicial systems deal with both the perpetrators and victims of this most pernicious crime.

I want to drag this issue out from the shadows so that no other mother has to experience the pain I will go through today. That I go through every day.

And so, I urge you to join me. Show your support to victims of family violence by signing up at www.neveralone.com.au

In the past year I have spoken out at every opportunity, to have my story heard. It’s a simple story, and one that will resonate with most victims of family violence. Luke and I were not to blame for what happened to us. We were failed by the system - a system that I wrongly believed was there to protect us. A system that desperately needs to change.

Unless we, as a society, make a stand, now, the violence will only continue. There is momentum around this issue now, but it can just as easily dissipate. We need to send the message to victims that they are not alone.

Because together we can make a difference. Together we can help to make birthdays the joyous events they are supposed to be.

No comments:

Post a Comment