 "27 killed in nearly 4 months: How violence against women has triggered mass protests in Australia")
It was a busy weekend in Australia. City after city witnessed mass demonstrations with men and women citing that violence against women is an “epidemic”, and urging for tougher laws on gendered violence.
On Sunday (28 April), Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also joined the protests in Canberra, saying all governments nationwide – including his own at the federal level – must make changes and focus more on stopping perpetrators. “Society and Australia must do better. We need to change the culture and we need to change attitudes. We need to change the legal system,” Albanese told the No More rally, organised by advocacy group What Were You Wearing.
“It’s not enough to support victims. We need to focus on the perpetrators, focus on prevention.”
With the protests garnering headlines across the world, we take a closer look at what exactly are demonstrators asking for and the “epidemic” of violence against women in the country.
Rallies erupt across Australia
Over the weekend, a total of 15 ‘No More: National Rally Against Gender Based Violence’ were held across Australia, including cities of Sydney, Canberra, Hobart, Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane. Demonstrators in the rallies urged an end to violence against women.
In Sydney on Saturday, around 3,000 people were estimated to have gathered at the city’s parliament building. The demonstrators called for tougher laws to punish those who engage in acts of violence towards women.
Greens Party Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said in Adelaide that a “national emergency response” was necessary to combat gender-based violence in Australia. “Women are sick and tired of being told, ‘Yes, it’s bad, but there’s not much we can do’,” Hanson-Young said via her spokesperson.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsSome protesters carried signs that read “Respect”, “No More Violence” and “How many of us have to die?”
Violence against women is an epidemic in Australia, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, as thousands attended rallies in Sydney and other Australian cities, urging tougher laws on gender violence https://t.co/fHUFfU35Ne pic.twitter.com/cxZPnz3Ur8
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 27, 2024
In Melbourne, large crowds gathered outside the State Library of Victoria before marching to Federation Square. At the rally, one woman could be seen marching with a red hand print across her mouth while holding a sign that read: “real men don’t commit acts of violence”.
Other protesters were seen holding signs that read: “The system has failed us” and “be careful, text me when you get home”.
Victoria’s premier Jacinta Allan also joined in the protest, saying: “We need to stop talking about women’s safety and get on and tackle men’s violence, that’s the issue here,” Allan said.
“It’s about men — for some men — their ongoing pattern of violence against women and how women deserve the right to be safe in every space.”
At the Canberra rally, demonstrators were joined by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his partner Jodie Haydon. Before joining the rally, he even posted on X: “I will walk with women across Australia to say enough is enough. Violence against women is an epidemic. We must do better.”
A woman has been killed every four days so far this year.
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) April 27, 2024
Tomorrow I will walk with women across Australia to say enough is enough. pic.twitter.com/6Ncu9QLmq3
In Perth, protesters called for a change in language around the violence. Clinical psychologist Carmel Cairney, who was at the demonstration, told ABC News: “Calling it male violence, or men’s violence, makes it necessary for men to pay attention and take responsibility, whereas both domestic and gender violence minimises it,” Cairney added.
Writer Emmy Hee, who attended one of the rallies, was quoted as telling The Guardian, “We’re just incensed by the loss of life, and by the beautiful women who’ve had their lives cut short, and if ever there was a time to come together, it’s now.”
**Also read: How crimes against women are on the rise again in India**Epidemic of violence against women
The rallies held across Australia come after the scourge of violence against women. Data released by campaign group Destroy the Joint reveals that 27 women have been killed in the first 119 days of 2024, with Prime Minister Albanese saying that a woman has been killed every four days so far this year.
At the same time in April last year there had been 14 violent deaths of women in Australia – 11 fewer than April this year.
The 2024 data also includes the five women, who were stabbed to death by Joel Cauchi at a Bondi shopping centre on 13 April. In fact, video footage of the incident had shown that Cauchi consciously avoided men during the stabbings. New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb had even said it was ‘obvious’ that the Bondi shopping centre killer, Joel Cauchi, was targeting women.
The killer’s father had later blamed his son’s frustration at not having a girlfriend.
Besides this, there’s also the horrific death of 28-year-old Molly Ticehurst. She was found dead inside her house on Young Street in Forbes – more than 370 km west of Sydney. Her ex-partner Daniel Billings has been charged with murder (domestic violence) and contravening and apprehended violence order. At the time of Ticehurst’s alleged murder, Billings was on bail after being charged with raping the mother of one three times, stalking her, causing damage to her property and abusing a 12-week-old puppy.
And four months before Ticehurst’s murder was the case of a 65-year-old woman who died in a house fire in January. Her son has been charged with her murder.
The community of Ballarat in Victoria is also in mourning owing to the demise of three local women — Rebecca Young, Samantha Murphy and Hannah McGuire — who died in two months, all to gender-based violence.
Following these crimes, Tania Farha, chief executive of Safe and Equal, an organisation in Victoria specialising in family violence services, told Sydney Morning Herald that the accelerated rate at which women were being killed by men was “a national crisis”.
Reasons for rising violence against women
But what’s causing this rise in crimes against women? Experts cite that misogyny is the prime reason for this scourge. Misogynist hate speech in Australia has become all too normalised; 23 per cent of Australian men find it acceptable to use sexist or misogynistic language online. Moreover, almost one in five Australian men said it is acceptable to share intimate images of a woman online without her consent.
Hate speech has also flourished online, including actively dehumanising women, glorifying violence and adhering to a male-supremacist ideology.
In fact, last month itself the Australian government offered AUD $3.5 million in grants in a trial aimed at tackling “harmful gender stereotypes perpetuated online”. This came after teachers stated that Australian boys are increasingly falling prey to a ‘regressive masculinist supremacy’ espoused by notorious ‘manfluencers’ such as Andrew Tate .
Authorities step in
The federal government has been working on the National Plan to End Domestic Violence, but has received criticism over its implementation.
Last year, the government also used the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on 25 November to announce a new tracker that would provide quarterly updates on intimate partner homicides to enable police, governments, and policymakers to have access to “accurate, verified and closer to real-time data”.
However, federal attorney general, Mark Dreyfus rejected the idea of holding a royal commission into domestic violence, saying that it should be dealt with via cooperation between the federal government working with state and territory governments.
“I think we’ve actually identified a whole range of actions already that need to be taken, and I think what we probably can say is that we need to be working harder on the kinds of actions that have already been identified,” he was quoted as saying as per a report in The Guardian.
With inputs from agencies
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
 "Russian drones over Poland: Trump’s tepid reaction a wake-up call for Nato?")
 "As Russia pushes east, Ukraine faces mounting pressure to defend its heartland")
 "Why Mossad was not on board with Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar")
 "Turkey: Erdogan's police arrest opposition mayor Hasan Mutlu, dozens officials in corruption probe")
