Australian Story: April 22

Monday’s Australian Story profiles Anna Coutts-Trotter who co-founded Survivor Hub for victims of domestic violence.

“There’s nothing harder for a parent to hear that your child has been hurt in that way.” Tanya Plibersek, Federal Labor Minister.

After learning her daughter Anna had been abused during a high school relationship, Tanya Plibersek was beyond livid.

“I mean, honestly, I wanted to kill him for hurting my child,” Plibersek told Australian Story.

Anna Coutts-Trotter was in her final years of school when her then boyfriend started abusing her, but it took some time before she recognised it for what it was.

“I think that because I was so young, it was really hard for me to identify with the idea of it being domestic violence,” she said.

Once Anna decided to report the abuse to police, the family’s fight for justice began.

“I felt as though I was on trial,” Anna said.

After surviving the brutal court process, Anna co-founded Survivor Hub, a peer-led volunteer organisation where survivors can learn about the justice system, connect safely and overcome the isolation that so many experience.

Anna’s father, senior NSW public servant Michael Coutts-Trotter, admires his daughter’s sense of mission.

“Anna has taken something chaotic and hurtful and meaningless and terrible for her and turned it into something positive and remarkable. But for that, this whole thing, I think, would have fractured our family. But …..it has deepened our love for each other”

8pm Monday on ABC.