What I have to say refers specifically to the Chair of the Family Violence
Death Review Committee, Associate Professor of Law Julia Tolmie, but I suspect
that research into the other members would have similar results in at least
some cases. Here is a list of the titles of the first ten results you get,
when you search for " Julia Tolmie" (without quotation-marks) on
Google
Scholar :
1. Discoursing dads: The rhetorical devices of fathers' rights groups
2. Fathers' rights groups in Australia and their engagement with issues
in family law'
3. Defending battered women on trial: The battered woman syndrome and its
limitations
4. Negotiating child residence and contact arrangements against a background
of domestic violence
5. Defending Battered Women on Trial: The Battered Woman Syndrome and its
Limitations'(1992)
6. Falling Short of the Challenge-A Comparative Assessment of the Australian
Use of Expert Evidence on the Battered Woman Syndrome
7. Domestic violence and child contact arrangements
8. Battered woman syndrome in Australia: A challenge to gender bias in the
law?
9. Race, Gender, and the Battered Woman Syndrome: An Australia Case Study
10. Race, Gender and the Battered Woman Syndrome: An Australian Case Study'(1995)
As you can see, there is a focus on fathers' groups and on domestic violence.
If you looked into the actual pieces of writing themselves, you would see that
they concentrate on attacking fathers and defending
murderous women. I have a Law degree, and I can assure you that it is no
rarity for Law lecturers to have anti-male and other
political agendas which bias the minds of the students who end up running our
legal system.
Apart from the fact that her photograph on the page http://www.hqsc.govt.nz/our-programmes/mrc/fvdrc/news-and-events/news/136/
makes her look as if she suffers from an acute personality disorder, I think
you can see from the above that she is extremely biased on relevant issues.
I would go further: It is people like her who create many domestic violence
problems, by excusing female violence on the basis of unscientific myths and
by doing nothing to ensure that the police act in an even-handed way as between
men and women. This police bias makes men feel unable to report female violence
to the police, which means they have to flee or retaliate as they see fit.
Could you please respond to this letter by explaining whether you think
there is a need for rationality and impartiality on the above-name Committee
and Commission? I have in-depth knowledge as regards domestic
violence and fathers' rights, and am prepared
to give you further information on these issues if you would like some.