Women’s safety advocates mark 2024 as one of the worst years on record for domestic violence deaths

ABC NEWS (Australia)

As we close out 2024, there are a lot of things to celebrate, but it’s also a time of reflection. Advocacy group ‘Counting Dead Women’ pouts the number of women killed by gendered violence in 2024 at 78. In 2023 that number was 64. Earlier this year, the Australian Institute of Criminology reported a 28 per cent increase in domestic violence homicides. Despite what appears to be an increase in public discussion and advocacy around the issue, the numbers continue to rise. And the New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics says the Christmas and New Year period is often when domestic and family violence spikes.

Transcript

00:00It's been a horrific year for women's safety across Australia, and what's really struck

00:08me, and you've already mentioned the number there, at least 78 women have been killed

00:12allegedly by men's violence in this year alone, and that's an increase on previous years.

00:17But what we've seen across those horrific deaths has been the diversity. This has been

00:23the killing of women in a range of different circumstances, a range of different communities.

00:28And it really reminds us that this is a national crisis that impacts everyone.

00:33At Victoria Police, New South Wales Police, as you've mentioned Gemma, consistently report

00:38an increase in reports of domestic family and sexual violence at this time of year over

00:43Christmas and over New Year's. So it's a really important time if you don't feel safe in your

00:48relationship or out celebrating New Year's Eve tonight to contact the police or to reach

00:55out to services that are open and available and check in on your loved ones if you are

01:00worried about their safety.

01:01We have a national plan to end violence against women and children that was launched two years

01:06ago. And it's really important to acknowledge our federal government has committed more

01:09funding than ever before to realise the ambitions of that plan, which has the aim of ending

01:15gender based violence in one generation. But we still haven't seen funding commensurate

01:21with the scale of the crisis. So we are still hearing from frontline responders that they

01:26are not fully funded to meet demand. We still know that prevention, early intervention efforts

01:32are not funded at the scale that we need. And absolutely critically, we need to develop

01:39new initiatives and fund recovery and healing. We need to ensure that for those women, children,

01:44all individuals that survive violence, that there are the supports and services available

01:49to wrap around them and ensure that in that survival, they can go on to thrive. Of course,

01:55when people are escaping domestic and family violence, one of the critical crisis supports

01:59that they need is safe housing. And we know that that is significantly under resourced

02:04in this country and that often women and children escaping violence do not have access to safe

02:10housing, which may mean they're spending time in their cars, couch surfing at friends' houses,

02:16lack of security motels. So it's really important that we sort out the housing shortage in this

02:21space, which I know spans broader than this issue, but also that we have those affordable

02:26housing options for the midterm and long term as well. Women's lives matter. Children's

02:32lives matter. And at least 15 children have been killed in the context of domestic and

02:37family violence this year alone. We need to ensure that we are learning from those deaths.

02:43It's really important to remember this violence is inherently preventable. It doesn't have

02:49to be this way. And by learning from the horrific lives that have been lost, we can prevent

02:54future deaths moving forward. So a huge thank you to Counting Dead Women Australia and Cheryl

02:59Moody and the Red Hearts Foundation for the incredible work and tireless advocacy that

03:04they do. It was a huge positive that violence against women was elevated to national cabinet

03:10this year. That's a really important acknowledgement from the Prime Minister and other ministers

03:15across the country that this is an issue of national importance. And going into 2025,

03:20we really need to see that acknowledgement coupled with the action, the funding, the

03:26urgency that we see for some of the other issues that affect safety across Australia.

03:31I feel encouraged by that. I think we've seen more men and boys joining and engaging with

03:36this issue in 2024 than perhaps previously. And that is critical. We simply will not address

03:42this crisis without engaging 50% of the population. And we are predominantly seeking to address

03:49here men's violence. So we need men involved. We need to ensure that where men identify

03:54problematic behaviours or where courts seek to intervene and change the trajectory of

04:01those behaviours, that we have the range of evidence-based programs available to work

04:05with men. We've got to keep in mind violence is a choice. It's a choice that someone can

04:10choose to make. But importantly, it's a choice that they can choose not to make. And we need

04:13to be supporting more men across Australia to choose not to make that choice.

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