17/02/2026
Call it what it is 😡 https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Gwy3WQ9Px/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Dr Vincent Hurley's 2024 appearance on Q+A was watched by millions. He was angry.
Thirty-two women had been violently killed in the first 119 days of the year.
"For God's sake, how long do we have to listen to politicians like you … high-horsing about?"
Behind Dr Hurley's emotional address were nearly 30 years as a police officer on the frontline of family and domestic violence.
When he started in the 1980s, on his beat, responding to gender-based violence felt endless.
"It would've been 80 per cent of police work," he told ABC Conversations.
"It was just domestic after domestic, after domestic."
Attending these incidents, Dr Hurley was shot at, punched to the ground and had a young girl die in his arms.
"What a waste of a human life," he said.
"All the hundreds of thousands of victims throughout Australia … their true potential in society will never be known.
"Because they are coerced and controlled by some sh****ad male."
Now an academic, Dr Hurley teaches criminology at Macquarie University. He also speaks at high schools about healthy relationships and the rates of violence against women and teenage girls.
He's noticed a worrying view among some school students.
"They see domestic violence as a bit of a private crime … a private argument between Mum and Dad or Mum and a partner," Dr Hurley said.
Dr Hurley believes the term domestic violence softens the crime and sends the wrong message to young people.
“It doesn't bring home the brutality or the maleness in the crime,” he said.
"If I had my way, I would remove the word 'domestic' from that phrase, 'domestic violence' … and just have straight out 'violence against women and girls' — because that's exactly what it is.
"It doesn't matter if it occurs at home. It doesn't matter if it occurs in the shopping centre, down the street or at the footy ground. It's just straight-out violence."
✍️ Story by Fiona Purcell
🎧 Stream Vince Hurley's ABC Conversations interview on the ABC listen app.
If you or anyone you know needs help:
1800 RESPECT national helpline: 1800 737 732
Lifeline (24-hour crisis line): 131 114
Relationships Australia: 1300 364 277
Men's Referral Service: 1300 766 491rie
