PM Scott Morrison says Australia shocked by family car fire deaths

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Thursday that Australians were left “shocked, saddened and devastated” by the deaths of five people, including three children, in an apparent case of domestic violence.

Hannah Baxter, 31, and her children Aaliyah, six, Lainah, four, and Trey, three, died on Wednesday after their car was set alight on a street in suburban Brisbane.

Her estranged husband and the children's father, Rowan Baxter, allegedly doused his family with petrol before setting the car alight.

Baxter, 42, a former player with the New Zealand Warriors in Australia’s National Rugby League, was found dead near the scene, reportedly after stabbing himself.

Australia has seen an increasing number of cases of domestic violence and family murder-suicides, but campaigner Carolyn Robinson said everyone she had spoken to was in a state of "shock" at the incident.

Local residents and friends on Thursday placed flowers and notes at a makeshift tribute to the mother and her three young children.

Baxter was a trampolining champion and one woman said that everyone who had known her had been left "crushed".