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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