Calls for patience on national gendered violence plan

More time is needed to determine whether early intervention efforts are working to stamp out violence against women, the social services minister says.

Thousands of demonstrators will march across Australia for a third day to demand action to end violence against women.

The prime minister is set to address a Canberra rally as the community calls for an end to the cycle of violence that has claimed the lives of at least 26 women so far in 2024, according to Destroy the Joint.

Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth hopes the renewed focus will help bring change. (Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS)

Violence against women “has been a crisis for some time”, Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said as she expressed hope the renewed focus on the issue would be a catalyst for change.

“It is good that we’re having a national conversation about this but one life left lost to domestic and family violence is one life too many,” she told reporters in Canberra on Sunday.

“What I hope is this national conversation will mean that there is sustained attention and sustained resolve across all areas of society community to say enough is enough.”

A national plan put in place less than two years ago and action plans less than 12 months old would take time to yield results, Ms Rishworth said.

This included early intervention and prevention programs with young men and boys who have experienced family and domestic violence in a bid to break the cycle of violence.

“Now we’re not going to see the benefits that that intervention will have for some time,” Ms Rishworth said.

“That doesn’t mean that investing in this isn’t urgent now.”

But the plan was not working and there were not enough frontline services, Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie said.

“They are not on the ground, particularly in the regions where these violent acts are being perpetrated, and I think we’ve all had enough,” she told Sky News.

Rallies are calling on governments to acknowledge violence against women as a national emergency. (Steven Markham/AAP PHOTOS)

Independent MP Dai Le does not back a royal commission into the issue but instead wants more targeted funding for communities.

“How do we include the young men in our society? How do we make sure they’re educated to respect and to work alongside women?” she told the ABC’s Insiders program.

The western Sydney MP also pointed to violent content propagating on social media platforms as X, formerly Twitter, fights the eSafety commissioner to keep up a video of a bishop being stabbed in her electorate.

“We need to make sure that our young people in particular are not exposed to this content,” she said.

“We question why there’s an increase in violence against women or in society.”

A dozen rallies will be held in major cities and regional towns on Sunday as part of a series of national events.

West Australian police have charged a 35-year-old man with murdering a 30-year-old woman at their suburban Perth home on Thursday.

It’s alleged the man assaulted the woman before setting the property alight while she was inside and fleeing with the victim’s three-year-old child.

Anthony Field from The Wiggles was among the crowds calling for action at the Sydney rally. (Steven Markham/AAP PHOTOS)

It comes after the regional town of Ballarat was rocked by the alleged murders of Samantha Murphy, Rebecca Young and Hannah McGuire at the hands of men within two months.

Two weeks ago, Jade Young, 47, Ashlee Good, 38, Dawn Singleton, 25, Pikria Darchia, 55, and Yixuan Cheng, 27, were all killed at a Bondi Junction shopping centre in Sydney when Queensland man Joel Cauchi went on a stabbing rampage.

Earlier this week, Molly Ticehurst, 28, was found dead at her home in Forbes in NSW and Emma Bates, 49, was discovered dead at a property in Cobram in Victoria.

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