Bashing IS domestic violence. It is not complex - can be defined as anything from ABH to murder, all stages of which have precise legal definition and none of which can be committed unless the perp is at large. It is not unfair to describe all who persistently resist the imprisommment of bashers, by persistently shifting the agenda to non-bashing issues whice ARE complex, as a basher lobby. If they advocate that bashers remain free to bash until these complex, controversial issues have been dealt with to everyone's satisfaction by social change, then they are basher lobbyists and part of the violent culture which Mr Turnbull has identified.

EmperorJulian:

"Bashing IS domestic violence"

Well then why not call it domestic violence or DV if you prefer? Surely you are using the word 'bashing' to try and make it sound worse than it is - isn't domestic violence bad enough?

You seem hell bent on making making such a massive distinction between those who bash and those who do not. You have also gone to great lengths to tell us that you are not a 'basher'. You do not sound too sure though. Why would you need to tell us of your domestic situation at all - we only need to know what your arguments and solutions are? Anything else is irrelevant to us but seems very important to you as if you are trying to convince yourself that you are not one of these people.

Your solution to the problem sounds less like a solution and more like an attempt to distance yourself from these men and to make a very black and white distinction between those who bash and those who do not. Perhaps you want such a distinction because you are not too sure exactly where abouts on the continuum that you belong.

phanto, I'm struggling to understand what his definition of a Basher is.

If it's a thug who uses some advantage (size, knowledge that they won't be hit back) to hit a partner then I'm all for heavy penalties. My impression though is that that they represent a relatively small proportion of DV (including DV where violence is involved).

The apparent lack of willingness to engage in the problem of gender bias in the debate around DV indicates a determination to stick to a very narrow viewpoint and not be distracted by complexities or evidence. Seemingly quite happy to have innocent people locked away as bashers while letting actual "bashers" stay free to satisfy a need for a simple fix.

R0bert

"I'm struggling to understand what his definition of a Basher is."

Fortunately Mr Turnbull has no problem knowing what it is. At last we have a PM with a mind rather than his predecessor's gut full of misogynistic Ditch the Witch hate.

## Five offences: ABH, battery, GBH, manslaughter, murder

In a word of only two syllables, bashing

Why not spread it to six syllables – do-mes-tic vi-o-lence?

Because that mouthful is too readily used by basher lobbies to refer instead to identities (which it isn’t). psychobabble (which it isn’t), “left” and “right” dogwhistles (which it isn’t), tangled non-violent forms of abuse (which it isn’t), non-violent non-abuse (which it isn’t), uppityness (which it isn’t) to shift focus away from what it actually is – serious physical assault. All amounting to “no don’t discuss violent assault, please discuss this-or-that diversion instead” - read this thread to see what I mean.

Can violence be justified? Yes, if in self-defence against violent assault. Or if in defence of someone else against violent assault (a child, a friend, a relative, even a stranger). Up to prosecution and defence to argue in individual cases and juries to decide.

Can violence be anything other than bashing? Yes, it can be delivered by shooting or stabbing or poisoning or strangulation, but it still boils down to one or more of the five acts of violent assault that make up “DV” as the vast majority of our population including our Prime Minister understand it and the law defines it, and in most cases means bashing - hitting someone with a fist, a boot or a blunt weapon.

EmperorJulian:

You haven't told us why you felt the need to tell us about your own domestic relationship?

“You haven't told us why you felt the need to tell us about your own domestic relationship?

For what it’s worth, because I am one of the multimillions of Australians who have never bashed anyone or had the slightest impulse to do so or any sympathy for anyone who does, and that is the mast to which I’m happy to pin my own colours. By inserting my own views on bashers or their defenders I’m trying to add the voices, as Mr Turnbull has, of the rest of the multimillions of Australians. This demands that I state where I stand in my own life. There are other contributors who obviously stand on the same ground.

I’m not, by the way, one of the “us” to whom I think the questioner may be referring in a bid to sound a bit like one of Mr Abbott's Royal Commissioners.