Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is being asked to declare a national emergency against gender-based violence, and advocacy groups are “calling” on governments to do more to stop women being killed.
Thousands of people marched in Sydney, Adelaide and Hobart on Saturday following a recent spate of horrific killings across the country, with sister demonstrations in Melbourne, Perth, Canberra, Brisbane and regional cities planned for Sunday.
Thousands of people demonstrate in Sydney on Saturday. Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
Attendees in Sydney walked from Belmore Park to Hyde Park, carrying signs that read: “I'd feel safer alone with a bear,” “Killed on the dance floor, jogging, in the park, in the shops, in our houses”. and “Men are like mushrooms: dangerous until proven otherwise.”
Rally organiser, victim-survivor and founder of What Were You Wearing Sarah Williams said she was “begging” the government to act.
“The people who show up, they're lobbying [the government]. They will have to do something after these rallies,” he said.
NSW Premier Chris Minns, who is considering convening a state royal commission into violence against women, attended the rally for almost two hours, along with the Minister for Housing, Homelessness, Mental Health and Youth, Rose Jackson, and Regional Minister for Transport and Roads, Jenny Aitchison. and Member for Parramatta Donna Davis.
More than a thousand people attended the national demonstration against violence against women in SydneyCredit: Flavio Brancaleone
Organizers placed 32 flowers in Hyde Park, representing every woman murdered in Australia so far this year. Advocacy groups say 27 of the women were killed in alleged incidents of domestic or intimate partner violence, with the other five flowers dedicated to the women killed in the Westfield Bondi Junction attack.
The death of 30-year-old West Australian mother-of-four Erica Hay was announced hours after regional rallies on Friday night, with a man known to her assisting police with inquiries. The woman's death is being treated as suspicious, but authorities have not determined how she died. Elsewhere, Emma Bates in regional Victoria and Molly Ticehurst in regional NSW were allegedly murdered this week by men known to them.
