Brodie Rae Constance Panlock grew up in the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne in the Australian state of Victoria with her parents and two older brothers.
[2] Panlock had plans to save enough money to travel overseas with her brother and his girlfriend before enrolling at TAFE to study social work.
[2][3] Panlock became involved in an intermittent intimate relationship with cafe manager Nicholas Smallwood in the fifteen months leading up to her death.
[6] Smallwood, fellow waiter Rhys MacAlpine and, to a lesser extent, chef Gabriel Toomey,[5] called her names and told her she was fat, ugly and a whore.
[2] Four men and MAP Foundation, the company that owned Cafe Vamp, were charged with offences under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 for their part in bullying Panlock.
They were ordered to pay $335,000 in fines as follows:[4][7] Damien and Rae Panlock successfully lobbied the Victorian Government to make changes to the law to include serious bullying as an offence punishable by imprisonment.
[16][17][18] The Victoria Attorney-General Robert Clark announced that Brodie's Law would be discussed at the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General in November 2011.
[20] In late 2012, Damien and Rae Panlock toured Victoria, using the first anniversary of the introduction of Brodie's Law to raise awareness about bullying.
[21] Damien and Rae Panlock continue to tour Australia and speak in workplaces and at public events, to campaign against bullying.