Shoalhaven campaigner talks of the changes needed to cut the domestic violence toll

However as she retired from 38 years as a social worker and counsellor focused on domestic violence, Sue Davies was quick to deflect the spotlight onto her colleagues.

"I'm proud of what I've done, but I've done it with a team, I've always worked with fantastic people, fantastic organisations," Ms Davies said during her last day on Friday, May 3.

There is an intense national spotlight on domestic violence at the moment due to the number of women being killed by former partner, and Ms Davies said the past few months "has been really quite sad for me".

She said it was not too long ago when 25 women killed by intimate partners in a year was considered bad, but that number had already been reached in 2024.

Given the number of deaths allegedly caused by men on bail or parole, "clearly, it's the judicial system that has to be changed first," Ms Davies said.

"I believe in a DV court, where there is a magistrate specifically trained to deal with DV matters, just like there's police and prosecutors.

"I know it's a big ask but it's a strategy, and it's one of the strategies that needs to be put in place," she said.

More focus also needed to be put on protecting victims and well as supporting offenders to change their lives, Ms Davies said, while education to teach respectful relationships was also needed as part of a prevention program.

Without them, the numbers or domestic assaults were not changing - a fact that "saddened" Ms Davies.

"My colleagues and I have worked for so many years and the statistics are still really high," she said.

Despite that "we have had some wins, and I'm sure down the track that my colleagues and I are saving lives".

Fortunately, none of the deaths have been in the Shoalhaven.

"I think we're very fortunate in the Shoalhaven because all the organisations, government and non-government, have worked brilliantly together in my experience," Ms Davies said.

"All the services just work so beautifully together."

Yet the system needed to change from the top down, she said.

"Clearly, it's the judicial system that has to be changed first," Ms Davies said.

"I believe in a DV court, where there is a magistrate specifically trained to deal with DV matters, just like there's police and prosecutors.

"I know it's a big ask but it's a strategy, and it's one of the strategies that needs to be put in place."

She had worked for several key local organisations, starting with the Department of Families and Community Services, which later became the Department of Community Justice.

She also spent 16 years working at the Nowra Police Station setting up and managing an intervention service for victims of domestic and family violence.

In that role she supported thousands of victims, easing the burden on police while also liaising closely with courts, magistrates and prosecutors.

"I was really proud of the intervention service and the fact that it didn't matter whether you were male, female, what your cultural background was, the DV service there helped any victim of domestic violence," Ms Davies said.

And while the overwhelming majority of victims were women, she said she dealt with "quite a few male clients who were victims of domestic violence".

"It happens to men as well," although she said they were far less likely to come forward because of the stigma that surrounded male victims of domestic violence.

In fact Ms Davies said it was a male victim who "emotionally affected me more than any woman I'd ever worked with".

He was referred to her at the police station.

"He must have come and seen me five times in a year before I convinced him, and hand-picked the exact police officer, to talk to him because of the shame," she said.

"He was a lovely man, a career man, his wife was a career woman, and that came with a whole lot of consequences as he did what he did, but he had to, because that abuse was horrendous."

Ms Davies said domestic violence touched all sectors of society.

"I've supported doctors, I've supported nurses, teachers, it doesn't discriminate," she said.

The only difference was the high-flyers in society were "less likely to report because they will lose their lifestyle and their financial safety".

A key part of being co-located in the police station was helping police officers better understand what it was like to be a victim of domestic violence.

"It was a fantastic service, and it was the thing I was most proud of in my career," Ms Davies said.

It also brought interesting experiences including bathing a baby in a sink at the police station, because both parents had been locked up.

After the service closed she spent time drawing up Shoalhaven Council's five-year crime prevention plan, before spending the past seven years with SAHSSI - "another fabulous organisation".

"I feel very privileged to end my career working for SAHSSI," she added.

It was just after she joined SAHSSI that Ms Davies was nominated by police and the court system for an Order of Australia Medal.

She was shocked to find she had been nominated.

"I thought someone was messing with me when I got the email saying I'd been nominated," she said.

The OAM was presented in 2019, although Ms Davies said she never used the letters after her name.

However she was retiring because "the time is right".

"I've watched my peers burn out, have mental health issues, and I'm tired of hearing the same things over and over again - giving a 28-year-old woman a tent because there's not housing," she said.

In line with her retirement Ms Davis has sold her home in Old Erowal Bay, and plans to move north to be closer to her three children.