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The very ordinary street in which the first murder of a woman occurred in 2024. IMAGE: yahoo! news, 3 January 2024
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To
date this year 2024, one woman is murdered every four days
somewhere in Australia.
Nationally, in the twelve months between July 2022 and June 23 there had been 34 women killed by an intimate partner, according to the National Homicide Monitoring Program.
By 30 April 2024, 28 women had died of gender-based violence, with 10 of
these murders occurring in New South Wales - sadly five being killed in the same place on the same day in Bondi Junction and one being a
60 year-old woman found bundled into the boot of a car outside her
home at Evans Head in the Northern Rivers region. Her son has
been charged with murder and interfere with corpse.
NOTE: Media reports now cite the number of women murdered nationally to date in 2024 as between 33 and 34. If the current rate of women murdered by men this year continues, then the Australian toll of 75 femicides in 2022-2003 may be exceeded by 31 December 2024. Although it is not expected to reach the 1990-1991 terrible high of 148 femicides.
The
year before in New South Wales there were 15 adult women who were a victim
of a Domestic Violence (DV) murder in the 12 months to December 2023.
While DV assaults recorded by NSW Police increased significantly over
the two and five years to December 2023, up by 6.7% over two years
and up 3.6% per year on average over five years.
The
year-on-year increase was higher in Regional NSW than Greater
Sydney (7.6% vs 6.0%), and substantially higher
over five years (5.5% vs 2.0% average annual change).
In
the Clarence Valley, NSW, from January through to December
2023 there 320 domestic violence related assaults recorded, of
which 276 involved female victims of which 250 were aged
between 18 and 40+ years and 26 were aged between 0 to 17 years of
age.
The
gender of offenders across all domestic violence murders and assaults is
overwhelmingly male.
According
to the
NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research
(BOSCAR) since 2019 the Clarence
Valley rate of domestic violence related assaults
has risen in the last five years from 354.3 per 100,000 persons to
686.0 per 100,000 persons in 2023. In the wider NSW
Police Coffs Harbour-Clarence District the
2023 domestic violence relate assault rate was 816.1 per 100,000
persons, making the rate more than 50% but less than double the NSW
average.
The
response of federal and state governments to this increase in
gender-based violence has been announced.
*******************
Dept.
of Prime Minister and Cabinet,
PM
Transcripts, 1 May
2024:
Released
by The Hon Anthony Albanese MP, Prime Minister of Australia
Meeting of National Cabinet on gender-based violence
National
Cabinet met virtually today to discuss the national crisis of
gender-based violence.
First
Ministers are committed to stopping the homicides and achieving our
shared goal of ending violence against women and children in a
generation.
National
Cabinet agreed to a number of priorities for all our governments,
building on efforts under way under the National
Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032,
including:
Strengthening
accountability and consequences for perpetrators, including early
intervention with high-risk perpetrators and serial offenders, and
best practice justice responses that support people who have
experienced violence.
Strengthening
and building on prevention work through targeted, evidence-based
approaches.
Maintaining
a focus on missing and murdered First Nations women and children,
and the impact of domestic and family violence in First Nations communities.
First
Ministers heard from Commonwealth Domestic, Family and Sexual
Violence Commissioner Micaela Cronin. Ms Cronin reflected on her work
as Commissioner, including discussions with people with experience of
violence, and key priorities for shared effort to address gaps in the
current system.
Premier
of Victoria, the Hon. Jacinta Allan also shared lessons from the
Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence.
National
Cabinet noted the importance of housing reforms in supporting women
and children escaping violence.
National
Cabinet agreed to strengthen prevention efforts through targeted,
evidence-based approaches and to be informed by an expert led rapid
review of best practice approaches. This will allow further and
effective action on preventing gender-based violence, building on the
considerable work under way.
The
Commonwealth will deliver the Leaving Violence Payment to help people
experiencing intimate partner violence with the costs of leaving that
relationship. This acknowledges financial insecurity is closely
linked to violence, and can prevent women leaving a violent
relationship.
The
Leaving Violence Payment builds on existing measures being delivered
to improve financial security of women, including expansion of the
single Parenting Payment, 10 days paid domestic violence leave, and
investment in crisis accommodation and affordable housing for women
and children escaping violence.
The
Commonwealth will also deliver a range of new measures to tackle
factors that exacerbate violence against women, such as violent
online pornography, and misogynistic content targeting children and
young people.
New
measures will include legislation to ban deepfake pornography and
additional funding for the eSafety Commission to pilot age assurance
technologies.
First
Ministers agreed that system responses need to be strengthened, with
a focus on high-risk perpetrators and serial offenders to prevent
homicides. This will involve work across governments and
jurisdictions. First Ministers have agreed to undertake a range of
work that will report back to National Cabinet later this year.
Police
Ministers Council and the Standing Council of Attorneys-General will
be tasked to develop options for improving police responses to high
risk and serial perpetrators, including considering use of focused
deterrence and fixated threat strategies.
First
Ministers agreed to improve information sharing about perpetrators
across systems and jurisdictions, led by the Commonwealth Minister
for Women.
First
Ministers agreed that States and Territories will explore
opportunities to strengthen national consistency and drive best
practice approaches across jurisdictions, including relating to risk
assessment and responses to sexual assault, led by Victoria and
South Australia.
We
will continue to listen and learn from those with lived experience of
violence. We recognise they have intimate first-hand knowledge of
services, systems, and structures that are meant to support. They
know from experience the weaknesses and strengths of interventions in
practice.
First
Ministers are listening to the experts, identifying where the gaps
are, and acting with urgency. We want violence against women and
children to stop.
This
media statement has been agreed by First Ministers and serves as a
record of meeting outcomes.
*******************
What
is yet to be revealed is the degree to which federal and states
governments are willing to address the legislative inadequacies demonstrated within the Commonwealth Criminal Code & state laws
covering personal and domestic violence.
Here
are a number of points currently being discussed in the wider community:
1.
The advisability of legislating a) increases in fines and prison
sentences for crimes identified as falling within the range of
crimes of violence against women and b) making a prison sentence
mandatory for repeat offenders;
2.
Reviewing legislation covering Apprehended Violence Orders
(AVOs) & Apprehended Domestic Violence Orders (ADVOs) to
ensure the conditions contained therein reflect the gravity of crimes
of violence against women;
3.
Reassess with a view to strengthening bail eligibility criteria & specific conditions, so as to avoid a) police failure to refuse bail or
failure to set appropriate police bail at time of arrest before
first appearance in local court and b) magistrates allowing bail
for repeat offenders - particularly when the charges asserted
violence or threats;
4.
By way of legislation, a mandatory precautionary measure be
established requiring all persons charged to wear a monitored ankle
bracelet until the matter is progressed through the courts to a
final judgment.
5.
Where residential
occupancy of the shared home's title is
in the name of both parties or where the rental lease is in the name of both
parties then a legal obligation be established by
legislation requiring the offending party to immediately vacate the
premises and find alternative accommodation.
6. That serious consideration be given to removing the relationship between the current amount of parenting payments received by the primary caregiver and a partner's income, setting a new across-the-board base rate and making it tax free for unpartnered parents on low to middle incomes. Thereby giving women with children more certainty and flexibility when seeking to leave violent relationships.
