Australian PM says violence against women a ‘national crisis’

Australia’s prime minister on Wednesday declared violence against women a “scourge” and a “national crisis”, after protests in several major cities.

Meeting state premiers, Anthony Albanese announced a raft of measures and funding to tackle “toxic male extremist views”, curb deepfake pornography and fund help for victims.

Albanese told Australians that “we all have to take responsibility” for stamping out violence.

So far this year, 28 women have been killed in the country — an average of one death every four days.

By comparison, 14 women died in the same period last year.

The deaths have sparked a reckoning, with domestic violence survivors and support services demanding stricter laws at nationwide protests last week.

Albanese on Wednesday announced new legislation to ban deep fake pornography and additional funding for the country’s online watchdog to pilot age assurance technologies.

He also announced Aus$925 million (US$598 million) in funding to bolster support services for those fleeing violent situations.

Domestic violence services said the announcement was a step in the right direction.

‘We need to learn’

Our Watch chief executive officer Patty Kinnersly said that every death reflected a woman who had been “robbed” of her future.

She welcomed the focus on online content, given the increasing role of technology in perpetuating gender violence.

“This issue must remain a priority, so that all Australian women and their children can not only live free from violence, but thrive,” she said.

No to Violence chief executive Phillip Ripper added more needed to be done to understand what drives men to be violent.

“We must keep bringing that to the center of the conversation,” he said.

“There’s a lot that needs to be done to understand, who are the men who use violence? What leads them to use violence? And most importantly, what are the pathways out of using violence — we have so much we need to learn.”

Too many deaths

Among the deaths that have rocked the country is that of Molly Ticehurst, a 28-year-old mother who was allegedly murdered last month by her former partner after he was given bail for other serious alleged offences.

These included the alleged rape, stalking and intimidation and destruction of Ticehurst’s property.

New data from the Australian government shows that between 2022 and 2023, there were 34 women killed by a former or current partner, a 28 percent increase from the previous year.

But last year’s figure remains one of the lowest in the 30 years of data collection.

Australia’s domestic violence rates are below the OECD average — with Argentina, Turkey and the United States among the worst offenders, data from 2019 shows.

But University of Technology, Sydney domestic violence expert Kathleen Baird said Australia’s statistics are still too high.

“One in four women will experience some form of violence in their life — that is too high,” she said.

“The statistics show that the rates are much higher for Indigenous women.”

Baird added it was difficult to say what had driven this year’s spate of deaths, but it was clear that current processes were not working to protect women.