Thousands of Australians are rallying for a third day to call for an end to violence against women, after the deaths of another three women last week.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was among several thousand Canberrans who protested in opposition to gender-based violence in a rally on Sunday.
Joined by Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher and his fiance Jodie Haydon, Mr Albanese took part in the march to remember those women killed in acts of domestic violence.
Marching from Commonwealth Park, on the northern shores of Lake Burley Griffin to the front lawns of Commonwealth Parliament House, several thousand protesters chanted slogans and brandished signs that read “26 women killed this year” and “Enough is enough”.
PM joins thousands in rally to end violence
What Were You Wearing, a community organisation advocating against gender-based violence, calling for increased funding for domestic and sexual violence services.
The not-for-profit is additionally demanding enhanced reporting options for those experiencing family violence and new rules that prevent media from publishing images of women killed by men for 48 hours following the murder.
State and federal governments are facing renewed pressure to take further action to end domestic violence after 26 women were allegedly killed by men the first 115 days of the year.
Mr Albanese earlier said in a post to Instagram Australia “must do better”.
“Violence against women is an epidemic. We must do better,” Mr Albanese said in a post to Instagram.
“Governments need to do better and as a society, we need to do better.”
Rallies have also been held in Melbourne, Brisbane and several regional centres.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan and her deputy Ben Carroll, as well as federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, joined the Melbourne rally.
An estimated 15,000 people turned out in Melbourne.
“Today we’re marching for all the victims and for us and our futures,” one organiser said.“This is a very moving and stressful event.”
Queensland Premier Steven Miles and Opposition Leader David Crisafulli both attended the Brisbane event.
“Today it’s fantastic to see so many Queenslanders out in force supporting those Queenslanders, sending a message that that kind of behaviour is just not acceptable in our state or in our society,” Mr Miles said.
“I think men need to be advocates too. We need to support the women of our state, we need to send a signal that we don’t accept violence, and we need to tell other men that that kind of behaviour as well as coercive control, it’s just not acceptable.”
“No More: National Rally Against Gender Based Violence” rallies took place in Sydney, Hobart and Adelaide on Saturday afternoon.
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and wife Lucy, as well as NSW Premier Chris Minns and MP Rose Jackson were all in attendance.
Three women died over the past week, including 28-year-old mother Molly Ticehurst in Forbes, in regional NSW and 49-year-old Emma Bates in Cobram, near the border of NSW and Victoria.
A third woman, 30-year-old mother-of-four Erica Hay was found dead after a house fire in Warnbro, in Perth’s south at 1am on Friday.
Five women were stabbed to death in the Westfield Bondi Junction attack by a man three weeks ago. A male security guard was also killed.
The rallies, organised by advocacy group What Were You Wearing also took place in Newcastle and Ballarat on Friday.More are scheduled to take place in Melbourne, Perth, Bendigo, the Sunshine Coast, Geelong, Brisbane, Coffs Harbour, Canberra, Gold Coast, Orange, Wagga Wagga and Combram on Sunday.
More to come
Womensline: 1800 811 811
MensLine Australia: 1300 789 978
National Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence Counselling Service 24hr helpline: 1800 RESPECT
Lifeline: 13 1144
Family Violence Crisis and Support Service: 1800 608 122
Emergency/Police: 000
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