Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The horrific death of Tara Costigan last weekend has sent shockwaves through the Canberra community. So many people have been affected by this tragedy, and I am proud of the way Canberrans have rallied together to raise more than $76,000 for Tara's three children, who have been left without a mother. One of her children is not more than one week old. This morning I received an email from a woman whose children went to the same school as Tara's children. It reads:

We cannot stop thinking about what Tara's two boys saw last Saturday. They will never, ever get over it. They will have that memory etched in their brains forever, flashing back to that moment for the rest of their lives. We cannot stop thinking about the newborn baby who is being cradled and fed by family members, but will never feel the loving arms of her mother. We cannot stop thinking about Tara. We are begging you—please take action to stop this from happening to another woman.

We have to end this blight on our society. We have to stand together for Tara Costigan's three orphaned children and for the more than 130,000 Australian women who have been victims of violence by a current or a previous partner in the last 12 months alone. We must do better, and we must act now.