Updated ,first published
Pauline Hanson has been accused of victim-blaming after declaring domestic violence “a two-way street” and suggesting women subject to abuse should leave their relationship.
Anti-domestic violence campaigners swiftly condemned the One Nation leader on Wednesday, saying her comments shifted the blame away from perpetrators and ignored the difficulties victim-survivors faced in leaving abusive relationships.
Two women and two girls were allegedly murdered within four days earlier this month, forcing the issue into the national debate again after another string of shocking alleged murders in May.
Hanson was asked on Brisbane radio on Wednesday to send a message to men who lose their temper, after she met with violent offender and UK far-right figure Tommy Robinson last week.
“It is wrong, but it’s also a two-way street. But I’m not saying that it’s just men … women can lose their cool as well,” Hanson told 4BC.
“Society is under so much pressure … I think today everyone’s sitting on a time bomb because the pressures of cost of living and people having to be able to pay the bills, tension that’s going on, or if you lose your job or the kids, what’s happening with the children these days, everyone is under so much pressure, and it’s really hard. I don’t think we communicate enough with each other.”
Hanson said women who were subject to abuse should leave the relationship.
“Domestic violence is a scourge, but sometimes, look, I’m not going to go in detail, but I’ve been through it myself in my life, and I just feel that if you’re not in a house where you feel safe, you feel you don’t want to be there, then you shouldn’t put up with it. And if these women are getting abused by men out there, then don’t put up with it. That’s what I’m saying.”
Sherele Moody, who founded the Red Heart Movement and tracks murders through the Australian Femicide Watch, said leaving, and the immediate aftermath, was the most dangerous time for women.
“[Hanson] has a fundamental misunderstanding of how hard it is for a woman to leave a domestic violence situation. It’s not just a case of a woman packing up her bags, the children and the pets, and walking out the door,” Moody said.
“She’s more likely to be murdered in that kind of time frame. There’s always a lot of barriers for women to leaving.”
Tarang Chawla, who became an domestic violence advocate after his younger sister Nikita was murdered when she tried to leave an abusive relationship, said Hanson’s view put responsibility on the victim of abuse rather than the perpetrator.
“My sister Niki tried to do what Ms Hanson suggests. Terrible advice. He murdered her,” he wrote on social media. “It is not as simple as ‘don’t put up with it’. The responsibility isn’t on the victim. It’s on the person who is abusive or violent. Overwhelmingly, that person is a man.”
Brittany Higgins slammed the comments, and said the rhetoric translated into votes against the interests of women and children in the Senate.
“‘Mutual abuse’, ‘two-way street’, ‘just leave’ – normalising this victim-blaming rhetoric in relation to domestic violence when 38 Australian women have already been lost to femicide is atrocious,” the Vida Fund executive director said on social media.
Four in five domestic violence offenders are male, with a median age of 35 years, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures from 2024-25.
The cost of leaving domestic and family violence has risen by 71 per cent in the past decade, according to Anglicare Sydney.
The not-for-profit’s research, released on Monday, considered the cost of a rental bond, hiring a moving truck, temporary accommodation, and rebuilding a safe household.
Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek said Hanson’s comments were irresponsible and dangerous.
“Senator Hanson has a voice and she is using it to send a message to victims that violence is their fault and to those that use violence that it’s excusable. We all experience pressures in life. Violence is never the answer,” Plibersek said.
“Leaving takes enormous courage, safety planning and financial support. Senator Hanson should focus on how we better support survivors rather than belittling them.”
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Brittany Busch is a federal politics reporter for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.From our partners
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