Tanya Plibersek's gut-wrenching reaction after daughter Anna Coutts-Trotter was molested by a man she should have been able to trust: 'I wanted to kill him'

Labor minister Tanya Plibersek has admitted she wanted to kill the man who abused and molested her daughter when she was first told of the horrific attacks.

Anna Coutts-Trotter, 23, was a victim of serious emotional, physical, financial and sexual abuse by a man she trusted when she was just a teenager.

She first met the man towards the end of year 10 when she was only 15, and quickly found she was spending most of her time with him. 

But details later emerged of his alleged campaign of serious sexual assault and domestic violence as well as controlling behaviour and financial abuse.

Now Ms Plibersek has revealed how her thoughts immediately turned to revenge after she heard details of the sickening abuse. 

'Honestly, I wanted to kill him for hurting my child,' Ms Plibersek, minister for environment and water, told ABC's Australian Story.

Ms Coutts-Trotter is now helping other victims after she co-founded The Survivor Hub, a volunteer organisation that helps 'support, inform, and empower people impacted by sexual assault.'

'I don't hold anger because I think that holds me back,' Ms Coutts-Trotter told the program, airing on Monday night.

'I felt loved, I felt as though he cared about me.'

But that love turned to abuse, she revealed.

'I experienced pretty much every kind of abuse you can think of. I experienced emotional and physical abuse,' Ms Coutts-Trotter said.  

She kept the abuse from her family, but eventually broke her silence.

She said she was relieved to tell her parents. 'They were so supportive. They didn't ask too many questions. I never felt as though they didn't understand,' she said. 

Ms Coutts-Trotter was grilled in court for three days over the abuse which attacked every aspect of her personality and character, she said.

'I felt like I was being deliberately misrepresented as somebody that I was not,' she told the show.

The man was convicted of assault but cleared of the other charges against him.

It was later revealed he had previously been convicted of similar crimes against other girls but has never been jailed. 

After the verdict, the politician's daughter says she crawled into bed with her mother and father, Michael Coutts-Turner '...and I just cried for a really long time,' she said. 

Ms Coutts-Trotter said she was inspired to establish The Survivor Hub by meeting Bek, another victim of abuse she met at court while waiting for her trial.  

'Even though Bek was a complete stranger to me, I felt like she understood me better than anybody else,' Ms Coutts-Trotter said. 

Her father - a former head of NSW Department of Communities and Justice - added: 'It's no surprise that it could happen to our daughter.

'If a person is willing to use coercion and violence, to get what they want and has the skills of manipulation, it can happen to anyone.

'Defence can and does use any and every tactic.

'[But] the insights you get from travelling through the justice system with someone you love is different … It feels like it's not a fair fight.'

Having lived through the experience of her daughter, Ms Plibersek hopes that victims of domestic abuse will receive greater support.

'We keep talking about, how are we going to change the legal system… how are we going to support victims better,' she said.

She continues: 'Why aren't we asking: Why is there such a high incidence of sexual assault and domestic violence and how is it that teenagers are behaving this way?

'How is it acceptable in these young relationships to be using violence and control?'

Ms Plibersek and her husband told the show how much they admire the commitment of her daughter in her work with The Survivor Hub. 

Ms Plibersek added: 'However much I worry as a mother, as a woman, I admire what she's doing.'