A call for action against domestic violence

by NAZMUN NAHER SHISHIR

Today on National Domestic Violence Remembrance Day, communities are coming together across Australia to light candles in remembrance of victims of domestic violence. The day serves as a reminder of the lives that are lost to family and domestic violence.

It comes after thousands rallied in major cities across Australia to end men’s violence against women.

The cause has only been intensified this year by the recent murder of Molly Ticehurst in Forbes, NSW, and the discovery of a 19-year-old girl in Sydney’s eastern suburbs on Tuesday morning.

Speaking at the anti-gendered violence rally in Canberra on Sunday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said gendered violence is “a problem of our entire society.”

The Prime Minister has called it a “national crisis,” calling for a national cabinet meeting, held today, to discuss how the government can prevent the domestic and family violence.

Anthony Albanese has since announced $925m to help victims of violence leave abusive relationships and a ban on deepfake pornography as new measures to combat violence against women.

The NSW Government has also launched an advertising campaign using the tagline, “It’s not love, it’s coercive control. Know the signs of abuse.”

The government’s advertising campaign is being rolled out ahead of the introduction of coercive control laws in July, after the coalition passed the legislation in 2022. 

The ads will run on social media and digital platforms, as well as in female bathrooms, shopping centres and at domestic airports.

Dr. Joe McGirr, Independent Member for Wagga Wagga said, “It’s alarming to realise that 97 per cent of domestic violence murder victims had been subject to coercive control prior to their deaths.”

But the campaign launched today has received widespread criticism, with Greens MP Abigail Boyd refusing to stand alongside the government because of their “failure” to fund frontline services.

“I was asked to stand next to the government while they made this announcement, in a show of what they hoped would be multi-partisan support for their approach to domestic and family violence,” Boyd said.

“I couldn’t in good conscience do that, knowing just how significantly the Labor government has failed when it comes to funding frontline services, and the evidence-based programs that we know are going to work.”

Domestic Violence NSW has repeated calls for a funding boost, with CEO Delia Donovan saying “immediate action” was needed “to support the over-stretched, under-resourced sector.”

“Failure to invest in this will continue to impact victim survivors and children at an alarming rate,” she said.

As of April 30, 28 women have died due to gendered violence, according to Facebook group Counting Dead Women.

The numbers represent an increase in female deaths as a result of male violence: data from the Australian Institute of Criminology shows that 34 women were killed by an intimate partner in 2022-23, up from 26 the year before.

It is also estimated that 1 in 4 women (27 per cent) has experienced violence, emotional abuse, or economic abuse by a cohabitating partner since the age of 15.