The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has vowed the state will learn from “anything that has gone wrong” in the lead-up to Molly Ticehurst’s “preventable” death after her parents called for changes to a government program they said gave her “false hope” of home safety in the fortnight before she died.
Molly’s parents, Kate and Tony Ticehurst, would be provided with a report detailing the interactions their daughter had with NSW government agencies and service providers, Minns pledged, after they alleged she was promised security upgrades to her home that were not delivered before she died.
Last week, the Guardian revealed Molly told her parents she had been promised upgrades to “intruder-proof” her Forbes home as part of the state’s Staying Home Leaving Violence (SHLV) scheme two weeks before she was allegedly murdered by her ex-boyfriend.
Speaking on Monday, Minns said something had gone “badly wrong”.
“Molly’s death was preventable, and obviously we need to make sure that anything that has gone wrong in terms of the way government agencies have responded, or departments, doesn’t happen again,” he said.
A NSW Cabinet Office investigation would “go through all of the departments that may have had interactions with Molly or her family, collect the information and provide it, as much of it as we can to the family and then the public”, Minns said.
The premier said it was an “important process” and that the findings would also be made available to the state coroner.
The government on 6 May announced the SHLV scheme would be expanding across the state as part of a $230m emergency package in the wake of Molly’s death and increased pressure for governments across the country to do more to keep women and children safe.
Asked if he knew that Molly had been part of the program when she died when announcing the new funding, the premier said he “personally wasn’t aware” but could not make that assurance for the rest of the government.
“I couldn’t say that every branch of government wasn’t aware,” he said.
“I’m not trying to be circumspect or coy. The circumstances relating to Molly’s death were horrifying. The government acknowledged that more needed to be done.”
Minns said that the additional funding announced last month was a “recognition of the fact that what was currently in place wasn’t enough to prevent domestic and family violence deaths in our community”.
Touting the program in parliament in May, the minister for the prevention of domestic violence, Jodie Harrison, said it had been “evaluated in 2022 as being successful in achieving housing stability and enhanced wellbeing for women and children affected by domestic and family violence”.
But the review conducted by UNSW researchers under the previous government also found security upgrades were often expensive and hard to deliver quickly in part due to a shortage of contractors and trades.
It also outlined the challenges in providing safe homes for clients while they waited for upgrades due to the housing crisis.
In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 988 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org
