Greens senator Larissa Waters has made a powerful speech on the topic of violence against women in Australia, as the nation reels from a number of murders in recent weeks.
“The murders of five women in just ten days last month must increase the urgency of governments and communities to tackle men’s violence against women and their children,” she said, lamenting the 43 women in 2023 who were murdered by “men they knew”.
Ms Waters called on an article by news.com.au journalist Nina Funnell, who criticised the response of former Principal of St Andrew’s Cathedral School to the murder of Lilie James by a former student.
“There is a link between elite institutional cultures, male entitlement and violence against women that cannot be ignored,” she continued.
“We need to address how power and privilege play into attitudes towards girls and women. We need to stop framing men who kill women as ‘good blokes’ who ‘just snapped’.
“Men must do far more to stamp out the sexism and misogyny that breeds inequality and violence. Let’s transform harmful social norms with fully-funded, expert led education in schools, sporting clubs, workplaces and all areas of society.
“Let’s fully fund support services that provide emergency housing, legal advice and counselling so that everyone who seeks help can get it.
Ms Waters urged that governments “at all levels” must prioritise the issue.
“Everyone must drive the cultural change we need to end the epidemic of men’s violence against women in our communities,” she continued.
“Today I remember the 43 women who have been murdered so far in 2023. This has to stop.”
With just eight weeks left of 2023, Australia is on track to surpass the annual average of one woman per week being killed by a current or former male partner.
It is proof, Director of Monash University’s Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre, Professor Kate Fitz-Gibbon told news.com.au, that “violence against women is a national crisis”.
“This year, like every year, too many women and children have been killed, allegedly by men’s violence.”
The tragic circumstances of this week have left many to wonder at what point we, as a country, will draw a line in the sand and finally say “enough is enough”.
“We are having the same conversation over and over again,” Leneen Forde Chair in Child & Family Research at Griffith University, Professor Silke Meyer, told news.com.au.
“And we see a temporary outcry and political statements that suggest commitment to change when we have ‘spikes’ of deaths. By this, I mean every year we usually have a period where multiple independent deaths occur in a matter of a few weeks. For example, earlier this year, 10 women were killed by male violence within a 20-day period.
“And sometimes even then, our political leaders remain silent around this issue.”
The latest National Community Attitudes Survey (NCAS) on violence against women, conducted by Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety Limited (ANROWS) and released in March, found 91 per cent of Australians believe domestic and family violence is a “major problem”.
Yet only 47 per cent – less than half – believe it to be one in their town, community or suburb.
Full Stop Australia CEO Karen Bevan told news.com.au that findings demonstrate that “the issue of gender-based violence is not taken seriously enough”.
“Prevention and response services are also profoundly under-resourced. If we expected to end sexual, domestic and family violence in a generation (as per the National Plan), then more needs to be done,” Ms Bevan said.
“We need a whole-of-community response to support women and children’s safety. That means listening to one another, offering support, having conversations with our family and friends and in our workplaces, getting our laws and policies right, and having adequate and funded support services and police responses.
“We need this to be a genuine and sustained priority throughout all our systems – it means changing attitudes, directing resources and educating everyone about gender equality.”
— with Natalie Brown
Originally published as Greens senator Larissa Waters says murderers shouldn’t be portrayed as ‘good blokes who just snapped’
