Greens senator Larissa Waters has highlighted that intimate partner violence against women affects all women as she draws attention to the campaign to prevent it occurring.

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women was observed on 25th of November and marked the beginning of sixteen days of activism on the issue.

Speaking in parliament on Monday, Senator Waters spoke about the issue, noting that the challenge is faced by women from all backgrounds.

“This year already 54 women have been killed by violence, and in just this month of November, in one week, we have seen six women killed—five of them by men they knew.” the Queensland senator said.

“It’s clear that men’s violence against women and children is an epidemic, and it’s past time that government policies reflected this urgency to tackle violence against women and their children.

“First Nations women, women from culturally diverse backgrounds, women in regional areas, older women, LGBTIQ+ women and women with a disability are even more likely to experience violence.” Senatore Waters highlighted.

Senator Waters went on to call for the government to commit more funding and resources to the issue, saying that while International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women drew attention to the issue, there needed to be follow through.

“Every year on that day we all recommit to ending sexual and physical violence against women around the world, but frontline support services are still underfunded and women and children are still being turned away as a result of that underfunding.

“Enough with the empty promises. Enough with ignoring the impact of financial insecurity and housing stress on women’s capacity to leave. Enough with underfunding the services that women reach out to you in a crisis.” Senator Waters said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced the launch of a new tracking system that will provide quarterly information on the number of Australian women killed by an intimate partner.

The government says the new statistical dashboard will allow police and support services to make decision based on “accurate, verified and closer to real-time data”. The system will not come online though to midway through 2024.

On Saturday the Prime Minister said in order to make a difference, it was essential that authorities were able to accurately measure the challenges.

“For a number of years, the crucial work of counting these deaths has been done by advocates and researchers,” he said in an opinion piece published in the West Australian.

“This work makes sure the women whose lives are tragically lost are remembered and shines a light on the scourge of family and domestic violence. It helps drive action to end the violence.

“I’m proud my government will now take a leading role in gathering this information.” the PM said.

OIP Staff

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