Survivor extraordinaire: Ricky Hunter

Ricky Hunter When I delivered a family law seminar recently, I was honoured to have Ricky Hunter in the audience. Ricky would not see herself as a survivor extraordinaire, but someone who has been through a lot, and survived. As someone who was never subject to domestic violence, and never been assaulted, let alone sexually… Read More »Custom Single Post Header

Family Law Section Law Council of Australia Award
Member of Queensland law society
Family law Practitioners Association
International Academy of Family Lawyers - IAFL
Mediator Standards Board

Survivor extraordinaire: Ricky Hunter

Ricky Hunter

When I delivered a family law seminar recently, I was honoured to have Ricky Hunter in the audience. Ricky would not see herself as a survivor extraordinaire, but someone who has been through a lot, and survived. As someone who was never subject to domestic violence, and never been assaulted, let alone sexually assaulted as a child, I call her a survivor extraordinaire.

Ricky is someone who went through the evil of being sexually abused as a child, then subjected to horrific domestic violence, having a son who is disabled, and coming out the other end as though, to misquote Churchill, coming into the broad, sunlit uplands of freedom.

I was doubly honoured when Ricky offered (and I accepted) a copy of her book, Point Last Seen.

Point Last Seen

I am afraid to say that I am not a very good reviewer, but Deborah Spermon is much better. This is what she had to say:

Elizabeth Brett once reminded professionals that to understand and describe the experiences of traumatised people, we must stay close. To distance ourselves, to rely too heavily on theory without the personal, is to diminish this ability. Ricky, with her telling of the complex interplay of the past and present, of pain and achievement, of the compelling drive to endure, invites us to come in close.

Faced with exhaustion and a sense that little was real, but with a lingering faith in her self’s existence, Ricky searched for what was long lost. Discoveries of self-knowledge exacted their dues as the debts to soul-life were paid, and emotions and sensations long banished again took up residence, sometimes with ferocity. Despite the unknown, despite the burden of unpredictability, her project of “A time to heal” had the strength of integrity and, with the support of those closest, the search continued and each insight welcomed.

Beverly Raphael said that such stories can only be told when survivors have drawn back from the abyss and are safe, when losses can be accommodated, when a community can be concerned with justice and human rights, and when therapists and others can hear. Ricky Hunter gives us one such opportunity.

Things to Read, Watch & Listen

Forced Marriage

On November 1st 2023, Accredited Family Law Specialist and Page Provan Director Stephen Page presented a paper at the Brisbane Zonta Club about forced marriage. I acknowledge the Jagera and Turrbal peoples, on whose lands we meet today, their elders, past, present and emerging. Ruqia Hidari was aged 21 and living in Victoria, when, according to police,… Read More »Forced Marriage

ACT Government Surrogacy Bill

The ACT Government has today introduced a bill to amend the ACT’s surrogacy laws. The proposed changes are more incremental than fundamental. They include allowing a single person to undertake surrogacy, for the surrogate to be single if needed, a requirement for legal advice and counselling beforehand, a written agreement being required, that traditional surrogacy is… Read More »ACT Government Surrogacy Bill

Planning to resolve: ADR in ART

ADR can help resolve disputes in ART cases. ADR is not limited to mediation and arbitration. Other types of informal dispute resolution can resolve disputes. When assisted reproductive treatment cases go off the rails, they can have the next level of bitterness and volatility. There can be a keen sense of betrayal when things don’t… Read More »Planning to resolve: ADR in ART