Intimate partner violence is on the rise in Australia, according to new data released following a series of tragedies.
Data from the Homicide in Australia 2022-2023 report shows there were 247 homicide victims between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023.
Of those, 38 incidents were between intimate partners and 89 percent of them were perpetrated against women.
Dr. Rick Brown, deputy director of the AIC, said those numbers were four percent higher than the previous year.
The newly released data comes at a time of heightened tensions in Australia, as women take to the streets to take a stand against gender-based violence.
So far in 2024, 27 women have been murdered, that is, one every four days.
The Prime Minister acknowledged that all levels of government must address domestic violence differently
Queensland Premier Steven Miles (pictured) praised the people of his state for attending rallies in Brisbane to support the cause.
Among the victims were five women who lost their lives after knifeman Joel Cauchi, 40, carried out their stabbing at Westfield Bondi Junction on April 13.
Molly Ticehurst, 28, of Forbes, and Emma Bates, 49, have since been found dead in their homes in separate incidents. Two men have been charged in connection with each of the tragedies.
Rebecca Young, 42, Samantha Murphy, 51, and Hannah McGuire, 23, tragically died over the past two months, while their mother Chaithanya Madhagani, known as ‘Swetha’, was found inside a wheelie bin on the 9th. of March.
In the 2022-2023 data set released today, 14 women had been murdered by April of that year. That’s 13 less than this year.
The report found that there were ‘160 incidents of homicide…where motive was applicable.
‘Most homicide incidents are immediately preceded by an argument between the victim and the offender. About a fifth of homicide incidents were preceded by an internal argument.’
Four incidents were described as motivated by revenge, two by jealousy, another two by desertion, eight by “apparent deception”, 33 by an argument of a domestic nature and 16 for no apparent reason.
While the majority of male victims were killed by a friend or acquaintance, half of the female victims were killed by a current or former partner.
Seventeen percent of the women were killed by another family member.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he would call an emergency meeting of the national cabinet on Wednesday to discuss the crisis with state and territory ministers.
Anthony Albanese gave a fiery speech at a rally in Canberra (pictured) on Sunday and said Australia needed to change its culture and attitudes to end violence against women.
Molly Ticehurst (pictured) was allegedly murdered by her ex-boyfriend Daniel Billings in the central western New South Wales town of Forbes on Monday.
Speaking at the Canberra rally at the weekend, Albanese described the problem as a “national crisis” and said one or two months of funding would not be enough to solve it.
“It’s also up to men to change men’s behavior,” he said.
“Yes, people need to be held accountable and I will be responsible for what my government does.”
Organizer Sarah Williams later criticized Albanese on social media, accusing him of entitlement in a scathing post.
“The fact that the Albanians abused their power by aggressively stating when I asked the crowd if we should let him speak: ‘I am the prime minister of this country, I run this country’ demonstrated their right,” he wrote.
Video of the event shows Ms Williams telling Mr Albanese “that’s a lie, that’s an absolute lie” after he claimed he had previously requested to speak.
“That he not only demanded that I speak because he was being interrupted, but also lied was embarrassing,” she later wrote.
‘He showed today what the law is like. A man with power trying to belittle a vulnerable young woman.
