Call for national register of women killed by violence
Aaron Bunch and Maeve Bannister |
Hundreds of people have rallied across Australia with a simple yet powerful message: stop killing women.
A dedicated band of hardy protesters braved heatwave conditions in many of the 14 cities and towns where protests were held as they called for action.
But organiser Sherele Moody says she is disappointed many invited politicians had failed to attend and add their voices to the desperate plea.
Violence has resulted in the deaths of 117 women since January 2024, including 14 killed since the start of 2025.
“Leaders were invited, especially Albanese … There’s been no presence from him,” Ms Moody told AAP from Melbourne where she said 500 people had gathered.
Ms Moody said state and federal politicians had been invited across the nation.
“There’s no one turning up for the rallies in WA, no one bothering to turn up the huge rally in Alice Springs, Brisbane, Canberra, they’re just, it’s like they don’t care,” she said.
“Heading into the national election … people need to vote for the parties that give a s*** about women.”
Protests have been held or are scheduled in Alice Springs, Adelaide, Melbourne, Geelong, Bendigo, Orange, Brisbane, Canberra, Perth, Sydney, Newcastle, Roebourne, Hobart and Port Macquarie, organised and funded by Australian Femicide Watch and the Red Heart Campaign.
They are intended to be memorials for the women lost, and a call for politicians to take more decisive action to combat violence against women.
Ahead of the rallies, Ms Moody said the women killed were not statistics.
“They’re individual lives,” she said.
“Tens of thousands of women experience abuse in Australia every day.
“We are doing everything we can to wake Australia up.”
Greens senator Dorinda Cox is expected to speak at the Perth rally, urging MPs to rise above politics to tackle the national emergency of femicide.
“We expect the prime minister to fix this and for him not to attend one of the rallies is telling, because this should be a national priority,” she said prior to the event.
“This is a state of emergency.”
While Australian Femicide Watch documents the number of female deaths to violence, advocates say a national register is needed to track the issue.
“We don’t have any good nationally harmonised data – we count the road toll but not the number of women who die in this country,” Senator Cox said.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
Lifeline 13 11 14
AAP
