Domestic violence cases 'disproportionately high' in regional areas

A particularly chilling detail emerged in the aftermath of Molly Ticehurst's murder: her killer and ex-partner Daniel Billings threatened to exploit her small country town's lack of an after-hours police presence.

"I will come in the middle of the night … The police won't stop me. I will get to you quicker than they will," he said in a phone call before her death.

Ms Ticehurst was murdered just before midnight in her Forbes home a few weeks later. On Friday, Billings was sentenced to 28 years' jail.

As Australia grapples with what the prime minister has called a domestic violence "crisis," experts are pleading for more to be done in regional and rural Australia.

"We know that regional Australia has a disproportionately high number of domestic and family violence cases," said Chris Lacey, general manager at No To Violence.

"The scale of the problem is massive, and we're just focusing way too late in the piece too often."

Distance and control

There is no shortage of intersecting factors that make domestic and family violence such a pronounced issue in regional and rural Australia.

For the University of Melbourne's Sarah Wendt, the concept of isolation is central.

"Geographical isolation always plays a factor in how women think about seeking help and coping with domestic and family violence," said Professor Wendt, a chief investigator in the Centre for Excellence for The Elimination of Violence Against Women.

"I have heard stories from women who talk about their partner's use of power and control by using distance to their advantage."

She cited examples where perpetrators have limited the use of the family car and where farm cameras have been set up to monitor a partner's movements on and off properties.

Then there is social isolation.

"Victim-survivors often describe the erosion of their social networks at the hands of a perpetrator, so women become socially isolated," she said.

"I've heard multiple stories about community not wanting to believe that about 'him.' The downplaying or the minimisation when it's a powerful figure in a rural community is quite common.

"It's just so complex and often rural communities will just want to stay away from it."

Who to trust

Women outside major cities in Australia are more likely to experience domestic and family violence, according to government data.

When they do, they are more likely to end up in hospital.

Kaara Ray Calma, an academic and registered nurse, was living in a regional town when she says she experienced violence from her partner.

She presented to a range of clinical settings but was not asked about her situation at home.

"I was never really asked explicitly about my experience at home or the dynamics of my relationships or whether or not I was experiencing violence," she said.

"On the one hand, I was wondering why wasn't I being asked, but at the same time, with my clinical hat on, I know that I didn't receive formal training whatsoever in how to initiate conversations about violence."

That set her on a path to understand how clinical and support services could better identify and assist in situations of domestic and family violence.

Now a researcher and lecturer in the School of Nursing at Griffith University, she is currently interviewing victim-survivors and clinicians as part of a new project centred around rural and remote Australia.

Common themes continue to emerge.

"There is a fear of disclosure," Dr Calma said.

"Particularly for rural and more remote areas where the communities are quite tight-knit, and people may know one another, they fear a lack of confidentiality, and therefore this dissuades them from disclosing because they're unsure how and who to trust.

"This obviously impacts not only identification, but also providing timely support."

'Postcode lottery'

Despite the billions spent and heightened national profile, there is alarm within the domestic and family violence sector about the direction Australia is heading.

"I am deeply worried about the trajectories that we're on," domestic, family and sexual violence commissioner Micaela Cronin told ABC Radio National last week.

A report this month from Australia's peak body for ending men's use of family violence found Australia's response was "highly fragmented," with uneven distribution of support services.

"One [domestic and family violence] practitioner talked about it being a postcode lottery — depending on where you live can drastically change the supports that are available to you," said Mr Lacey from No To Violence.

Those support services and programs, he argues, need to be better tailored toward specific communities, so that country town organisations can play a bigger role in identifying and preventing domestic and family violence.

The report also found just two per cent of men who commit physical and sexual violence to a partner undertake any form of behaviour change intervention.

For Mr Lacey, it reinforces why far more resources should be directed toward earlier preventative programs.

"We're really wanting to call on government and everyone to see where we can intervene much earlier in the piece," he said.

"Rather than waiting for the police to be involved and then the courts and the justice system, so these victim-survivors aren't being created in the first place."

Breaking the cycle

It is a sentiment that resonates in the regional Victoria town of Ballarat, where a community remains haunted by recent tragedy.

"We're in a crisis and just doing more of the same, running a program here and a program there, that's not going to be enough," the CEO of Child and Family Services (CAFS) in the Central Highlands, Wendy Sturgess, said.

Her organisation was one of several to receive state funding as part of Respect Ballarat, a "saturation model" initiative launched following the high-profile deaths of three women in 2024.

As concern grows around the impact of 'the manosphere' on young men's behaviour, the CAFS-administered programs will be geared toward earlier intervention and breaking cycles of violence.

One newly-launched program will work with 8- to 12-year-olds and their families, while a For Baby's Sake model involves supporting new fathers and parents.

"We've got to start younger if you want to get effective change,"

Ms Sturgess said.

Amid a bleak national picture, Professor Wendt believed there was still an opportunity to better harness the connections, clubs and community bonds that make country towns special.

"Rural communities can often show us how to do things really well," she said.

"I've heard really good stories where the community rallies to support a victim of domestic and family violence, so that she can stay in her community.

"It kind of goes to the question: what are we willing to accept as a community?"