Samantha Donovan: Now to the aftermath of the shocking house fire in Sydney that killed three young children over the weekend. Their four siblings and mother survived the blaze, which police believe was an act of domestic violence. They allege the children's father blocked attempts to rescue them. He's in hospital in a coma and under police guard. Just a warning to you, this report from Gavin Coote contains some distressing details.
Gavin Coote: In the suburb of Lalor Park, residents are struggling to make sense of the horror.
Damien Dubois: They were doing CPR on the kids for about 40 minutes right in front of me and that was very confronting.
Gavin Coote: Damien Dubois comforted the four children rescued from a burning home after their 28-year-old father allegedly barricaded the family inside.
Damien Dubois: As I had the kids, one of the police came over and sort of, you know, what happened? And you know, and the eldest one said he tried to kill me, put a knife to his throat and wouldn't let us out.
Gavin Coote: Two boys were found in a critical condition and later died in hospital, while the body of a baby girl was found after the fire was put out. The four surviving children and their mother remain in hospital and are expected to recover. Police are treating it as a domestic violence-related homicide. Renee Romans is among many in Western Sydney who've been left reeling.
Renee Romans: My family lives around here and I have small children similar in age. It's just horrific to think what they went through, let alone at the hands of their parent. It's horrible.
Gavin Coote: The 28-year-old man remains in an induced coma and under police guard in hospital. Police allege he tried to stop neighbours and emergency services from rescuing the children from the burning property. One of those rescuers was Jarrod Hawkins, who is being hailed by many as a hero.
Jarrod Hawkins: At the time, I don't know, I just felt like I just had to do the right thing. I just grabbed the kid and just took off. I'm just heartbroken for those kids that have to deal with that for the rest of their lives.
Gavin Coote: New South Wales Premier Chris Minns has described the incident as deeply distressing.
Chris Minns: These children deserved a loving home with safety and security and instead they're gone. And I can imagine the people of New South Wales feel enormous sorrow and deep sympathy with the surviving family members this morning, as we also show enormous care and gratitude to our emergency service workers in New South Wales that were confronted with a devastating scene.
Gavin Coote: The deaths have again brought the impacts of domestic violence on children into sharp focus. A recent study by Australia's National Research Organisation for Women's Safety showed nearly half of the children killed by a parent are less than two years old. Conor Pall is the Deputy Chair of the Victorian Government's Victim Survivors Advisory Council. The 21-year-old's childhood was plagued by domestic violence and says the impacts on children are too often overlooked.
Conor Pall: And it's tragic that it takes this sort of tragedy to shine a light on this issue. In 2016, children and young people were identified as the invisible victims of family violence in the nation's first ever Royal Commission in Victoria, the Royal Commission into Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence. And it's now been over eight years since that Royal Commission and not much really has changed across the country. You know, nine children have died this year as a result of family violence and that is not a figure that we should have in this country. And we need to be doing more to make sure that we're bringing children and young people into the front of our minds when we're talking about family violence and often we're the ones that are forgotten about.
Gavin Coote: Why is that do you think? Is there a lack of representation of children victim survivors in this conversation?
Conor Pall: Well, I think it's a very complex issue and I don't think there's one reason but I don't understand why we can't, when we're talking about violence against women, why we can't also be talking about violence against children and young people because we've got a national plan, the national plan to end violence against women and children and it's great that that title includes children and the plan acknowledges that children are victims in our own right but that plan has not translated into meaningful action for children on the ground. And it actually places a burden on children and young people that I don't think is fair. It looks to us as agents of generational change and we can't be agents of generational change without adequate funding into supports that will support our long-term healing and recovery as victims in our own right.
Gavin Coote: The Federal Government has established a rapid review of how to best prevent violence against women and children. It will report back to later this year.
Samantha Donovan: Gavin Coote reporting. And if you need help and advice on domestic violence, please call 1 800 RESPECT. That's 1 800 737 732.