The TV interview with Tom Meagher that everyone is talking about.

Tom Meagher, the husband of Jill Meagher who was brutally raped and murdered in Melbourne in 2012, has given a breathtakingly poignant interview on Studio 10 this morning.

In this powerful exclusive television interview, Tom talked to Channel 10’s Ita Buttrose about the plans he and his wife Jill Meagher had for their future, before she was murdered.

Since moving back to Ireland, Tom has become a vocal member of The White Ribbon Campaign, encouraging men to take a stance on the issue of violence against women.

Today’s interview follows a powerful essay that Tom wrote for White Ribbon Australia.

This morning, Tom talked about his decision to speak out about this issue, saying,

“When it started I had a lot of anger toward (Adrian Bayley) which manifested itself in hatred and revenge fantasies and I came to realise this is destructive and I wanted to do something constructive with it”.

This decision came after Tom’s revelation that his wife’s killer was in fact just another man.

“I think it was just a bracing moment, the recognition that this man is human, in some way, as opposed to a monster, or opposed to a madman”.

Tom continued to talk about this issue being hidden within society, particularly violence toward sex workers.

“I think sex workers are in an almost invisible category, almost invisible in society so if something happens – I mean if you look at the women Bayley had brutally raped before Jill, you know, those rapes were unbelievably bad, and it didn’t seem even newsworthy, it wasn’t even in the public consciousness. “

Tom’s decision to speak about this issue is incredibly significant. As Tom himself said, violence against women is widespread but often has a “culture of silence” around it which has significant consequences for the victims of assault.

“I think there’s an almost ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ policy about it. And I think men think they can get away with it because it happens behind closed doors, but these statistics are just appalling, and it needs to be dealt with.” “You often see people in the pub just unthinkingly saying something disparaging about women, almost rolls of the tongue, and it’s almost like it’s a routine-ised sort of automatic reaction. And even if they might not mean anything by it, they might be enabling someone else that they’re with, or somebody else that’s overhearing them, who does commit violence against women, who does feel enabled by this kind of dominance and this idea that women are subordinate to him”.

Tom’s interview has provided yet another powerful example as to why we, as a society, need to take immediate action to prevent violence against women. It also shows once again what a phenomenally strong and good man Tom Meagher is. As Tom eloquently said “it’s time to take some real leadership”. It’s time to find solutions.”