Last week alone, four women were allegedly killed by male violence in Australia. Two of these tragedies occurred in Victoria, and two of the victims were teenagers. Every single one of them should still be alive today.

These are not isolated tragedies. This year, nine women have died in Victoria, while across Australia, 37 women* have allegedly been killed by men. Shockingly, 17 children have died as a result of violence in 2026 – the youngest victim was an eight-week-old baby. With a woman dying on average every 11 days in Australia in 2024-25, we are left feeling that we are in a crisis we cannot escape.

Every death leaves children without mothers, parents without daughters, friends carrying grief that never quite leaves them, colleagues trying to fill impossible gaps, teachers supporting traumatised students, police, nurses and paramedics responding yet again. Countless reports prove that what happens in the home cannot be isolated from the rest of society; it penetrates every layer of our community and delivers a gut punch to the economy. Violence against women reaches far beyond the front.

While we are in a crisis, it is neither insurmountable nor unrecognised. This epidemic is rooted in a long history that has treated women as lesser and as citizens undeserving of equal........

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