In Australia, words spoken on a Wednesday morning radio program have reopened one of society's most enduring and painful arguments: who bears responsibility when violence enters a home. Pauline Hanson, leader of the One Nation party, described domestic violence as a 'two-way street' and suggested women in unsafe homes should simply leave — a framing that advocates, ministers, and those who have lost loved ones to intimate partner violence say is not merely mistaken, but lethal in its logic. The controversy arrives as 38 Australian women have already been killed by partners this year, and it ec
Hanson's 'two-way street' domestic violence comments spark victim-blaming backlash
Nikita Chawla was murdered by her partner in 2015 at age 23; 38 Australian women have been lost to femicide this year.
The responsibility isn't on the victim. It's on the person who is abusive.
Mark
Why does it matter what Pauline Hanson says about domestic violence? She's one politician.
Mimi
Because she has a platform, and because the way we talk about abuse shapes how people respond to it. When a public figure says it's a "two-way street," that language spreads. It gives permission to others to think the same way.
Mark
But she also said she'd been through it herself. Doesn't that give her credibility?
Mimi
It might seem that way, but it actually makes it worse. When someone who has experienced abuse frames it as mutual, or suggests the solution is simply to leave, they're not just offering an opinion—they're saying that their own survival strategy should work for everyone. It doesn't account for the fact that leaving is often the most dangerous moment.
Mark
What's the difference between saying "don't put up with it" and actually supporting someone to leave?
Mimi
One puts the burden on the victim to solve the problem. The other acknowledges that leaving requires safety planning, resources, sometimes legal help, sometimes a place to go. It's the difference between blame and support.
Mark
The source mentions that Hanson has questioned whether women fabricate abuse claims. How does that connect to what she said this week?
Mimi
It's the same underlying belief: that women are unreliable narrators of their own experience. If you believe women lie about abuse, you're less likely to believe them when they say they're in danger. You're more likely to think they should just handle it themselves.
Mark
Tarang Chawla's response was very direct. Why did he speak up?
Mimi
Because his sister followed the advice Hanson was giving. She tried to leave. And it cost her her life. When you've lost someone that way, you can't stay silent when someone with a platform suggests that same path as a simple solution.
The Pulse
- Hanson's radio remarks — that domestic violence is mutual and that women should 'just leave' — landed like a match in dry grass, drawing immediate and fierce condemnation from across the political and advocacy spectrum.
- Tarang Chawla, whose sister Nikita tried to leave her abusive partner in 2015 and was murdered at 23 for doing so, offered the most devastating rebuttal: the advice Hanson gave is exactly what his sister followed, and it cost her life.
- Government ministers warned that framing abuse as a shared fault actively protects perpetrators and silences victims at the moment they are most vulnerable — statistically, when a woman attempts to leave.
- Brittany Higgins and frontline organisations called the language 'atrocious' and 'vile,' pointing to 38 femicides already recorded this year as evidence that the stakes of this rhetoric are not abstract.
- The episode is not isolated — Hanson has a documented history of treating domestic violence claims with suspicion, from a 2019 family court inquiry criticised as a platform for men's rights arguments to Senate remarks defending men she believed were falsely accused.
- Australia is left navigating a familiar and unresolved tension: whether public discourse on gendered violence will be shaped by evidence and survivor experience, or repeatedly pulled back toward frameworks of mutual blame.
In Australia, words spoken on a Wednesday morning radio program have reopened one of society's most enduring and painful arguments: who bears responsibility when violence enters a home. Pauline Hanson, leader of the One Nation party, described domestic violence as a 'two-way street' and suggested women in unsafe homes should simply leave — a framing that advocates, ministers, and those who have lost loved ones to intimate partner violence say is not merely mistaken, but lethal in its logic. The controversy arrives as 38 Australian women have already been killed by partners this year, and it echoes a long human struggle to name power honestly, rather than distribute blame evenly where none is owed.
On a Wednesday morning, Pauline Hanson sat down with radio station 4BC and said what she believed about domestic violence. It was real, she acknowledged — a scourge. But then she reframed it: a 'two-way street,' she said. Women lose their cool too. And if a home was unsafe, the answer was simple. Leave.
Within hours, the response was overwhelming. Advocates, ministers, and survivors recognised in her words a logic they had spent years fighting — the idea that abuse is mutual, that escape is easy, and that the person being harmed carries responsibility for their own safety.
No voice cut more sharply than that of Tarang Chawla, whose sister Nikita was murdered by her partner in 2015 at the age of 23. Nikita had done exactly what Hanson prescribed. She had tried to leave. He killed her. 'It is not as simple as don't put up with it,' Chawla said. 'The responsibility isn't on the victim. It's on the person who is abusive or violent. Overwhelmingly, that person is a man.'
Minister for Women Katy Gallagher called the comments 'ill-informed' and warned they let perpetrators off the hook. Tanya Plibersek went further, noting that the most dangerous moment in an abusive relationship is often the moment a woman tries to leave — when violence escalates, when it turns fatal. Brittany Higgins, now leading the Vida Fund, pointed to 38 Australian women already killed by intimate partners this year and called Hanson's language 'atrocious.' The Women's and Girls' Emergency Centre called it 'vile and shameful,' with its chief executive noting that family violence is gendered — perpetrated overwhelmingly by men against women and children.
This was not Hanson's first time in this territory. In 2019 she led an inquiry into the family court system that women's groups warned would amplify men's rights grievances. Before that, she had told the Senate her own sons faced domestic violence allegations she believed were unwarranted, and expressed sympathy for men she thought were falsely accused. The pattern across years was consistent: a framework that treats abuse as mutual fault, departure as a simple choice, and women's accounts with suspicion.
What the backlash made plain was that this framework does not merely misread the evidence — it shapes the conditions in which violence continues, and in which some women do not survive their attempts to escape it.
Pauline Hanson, leader of the One Nation party, sat down with radio station 4BC on a Wednesday morning and offered her thoughts on domestic violence in Australia. The problem was real, she said—a scourge on society. But then she reframed it. Domestic violence, she explained, was a "two-way street." Women lose their cool too. Society was under pressure. Everyone was under pressure. And if women found themselves in unsafe homes, well, they shouldn't put up with it. They should leave.
Within hours, the comments had ignited a firestorm of condemnation from advocates, politicians, and survivors who recognized in her words a familiar and dangerous logic: the idea that abuse is somehow mutual, that leaving is simple, and that the burden of safety rests on the person being harmed.
Tarang Chawla, an activist whose sister Nikita was murdered by her partner in 2015 when she was 23 years old, responded with the weight of lived loss. His sister had tried to do exactly what Hanson suggested. She had attempted to leave. He murdered her. "It is not as simple as 'don't put up with it'," Chawla said. "The responsibility isn't on the victim. It's on the person who is abusive or violent. Overwhelmingly, that person is a man."
Katy Gallagher, the minister for women and finance, called Hanson's comments "ill-informed" and warned they risked "sending a dangerous message that lets perpetrators off the hook." Tanya Plibersek, the social services minister, was sharper still. Hanson's framing, she said, sent a message to victims that violence was their fault and to perpetrators that it was excusable. The most dangerous moment in an abusive relationship, Plibersek noted, is often when a woman tries to leave—when violence escalates, when it turns lethal.
Brittany Higgins, now executive director of the Vida Fund, posted on social media that Hanson's language—"mutual abuse," "two-way street," "just leave"—was atrocious at a moment when 38 Australian women had already been killed by intimate partners this year. The Women's and Girls' Emergency Centre called the comments "vile and shameful." Its chief executive, Nicole Yade, pointed out that Hanson was speaking from privilege and misunderstanding. Violence, Yade said, is gendered. The majority of family violence is perpetrated by men against women and children. For Hanson to have experienced domestic violence herself and still offer these words was, Yade said, "deeply disappointing."
This was not Hanson's first venture into the terrain of domestic violence skepticism. In 2019, she had secured a controversial inquiry into the family court system, one that women's groups warned could become a platform for men's rights activists. At that time, she had claimed women were fabricating family violence complaints to keep their children from seeing their fathers—a claim that has been widely discredited by research but remains a central grievance in men's rights circles. In 2017, she had told the Senate that her own sons had faced domestic violence allegations "that were not warranted" and expressed sympathy for men she believed were being falsely accused.
The pattern was clear: a public figure with a platform, speaking from a framework that treats abuse as a matter of mutual fault, that treats leaving as a simple choice, that treats women's accusations with suspicion. And in response, a chorus of voices—some of them shaped by the irreversible loss of someone they loved—explaining why that framework was not just wrong but dangerous.
Notable Quotes
My sister Niki tried to do what Ms Hanson suggests. Terrible advice. He murdered her.— Tarang Chawla, activist and brother of femicide victim Nikita Chawla
The responsibility for violence lies with the person who chooses to use it. Overwhelmingly, that person is a man.— Tarang Chawla
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