Large crowds call for action against domestic violence – Australian Associated Press

Thousands of people will take to the streets to demand an end to gender-based violence, days after a man was charged with murdering a 19-year-old woman and dumping her remains on a ferry.

Huge crowds are expected to march in Melbourne on Friday to mark the start of 16 days of activism.

The global campaign is to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls.

It comes after human remains were found at a Melbourne landfill on Tuesday with a man accused of murdering missing teenager Isla Bell.

Ms Bell was last seen leaving her home in Brunswick on October 4.

Premier Jacinta Allan said Ms Bell’s family would go through “unspeakable pain” and her loss was that of another woman in the community who deserved the right to live safely and without fear.

“That was taken away from him,” she said Thursday.

“We see in Victoria and Australia, too many women lose their lives to either someone they know or someone who was a complete stranger – it happens too often.”

A royal commission into domestic, family and sexual violence in South Australia heard on Wednesday that the system is in crisis due to a lack of resources and increased demand.

SA’s domestic violence hotline received a record number of calls on the day the commission launched in July and expected to receive 35,000 in 2024.

In Queensland, police deal with around 140,000 calls to the domestic and family violence service each year, and in 2024 that is approaching 190,000.

Respect Victoria president Kate Fitz-Gibbon said Friday’s walk was a powerful demonstration of unwavering community support to end the behavior and attitudes that enable violence against women.

“The 16 days of activism provide great opportunities for all Victorians to get involved in changing the narrative,” she said.

Over 5000 community members joined the walk in 2023.

Similar marches were held in regional areas including Ballarat in Victoria and Tamworth in NSW in early 2024 after the deaths of several women highlighted higher rates of domestic violence outside the cities.

The NSW Government tightened bail laws after the alleged murder of Molly Ticehurst in Forbes, 120km west of Orange, in April.

The 28-year-old educator was allegedly killed by her ex-boyfriend, who was out on bail.

In the following weeks, the federal government funded a $1 billion program that will provide $5,000 payments to people fleeing domestic violence.

This funding was boosted after five women and one man were killed at Sydney’s Bondi Junction shopping center when Queensland man Joel Cauchi was stabbed.

That same month, thousands of demonstrators marched in a dozen Australian cities for several days to demand action to end violence against women.

Ballarat also became a center for rallies after local women Samantha Murphy, Rebecca Young and Hannah McGuire were allegedly killed at the hands of the men.

In Australia, in 2024, 85 women will be killed by a man, according to Australian Femicide Watch.

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