2015 has been a pretty devastating, scary year for violence against women. We’ve watched 34 women be murdered, and most of these women knew their killer. 34 women in 17 weeks is 2 women per week, in case your maths ain’t so great – and that’s a higher statistic than we’ve ever seen before.
Helen Brereton from the Women’s Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Service in NSW said domestic violence was near to being an epidemic:
“We know that domestic violence is the leading cause of death and injury and illness for women in Australia,” she said.“The statistics have been growing steadily over time as more women are reporting. So it’s shocking to hear these statistics but what is less shocking just for me is just how widespread this issue is. And its time really not to sweep it under the carpet, to have conversations about it and I think also we need stronger leadership from government, from our communities to really take some action.”
Last month, the Council of Australian Governments agreed that they need to take ‘urgent collective action’ regarding domestic violence, which included developing a DVO (domestic violence order) scheme to be rolled out by the end of 2015.
Australian of the Year Rosie Batty hit the nail on the head in a statement in March, saying that the legal system too often is “not prepared to support and validate the experiences of the victims”:
“What’s that about? Why do we have to work so hard to be believed?”
The news of the scheme being pushed back was announced by Federal Minister Michaelia Cash. Who is the Minister that has to assist our male Minister for Women. This news definitely is worth smacking your head into your desk over, but at very least we know the person who does the actual work of the Minister for Women is a woman, I guess.
