Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has delivered a fiery speech at a rally in Canberra protesting violence against women, demanding widespread change to all levels of Australian society and asking protesters to hold him “accountable” for his government’s actions.
In a speech that was met at times with jeers and interruptions, Mr Albanese said Australia needed to change its “culture”, “attitudes” and “legal system” to end the scourge of violence against women that has already allegedly claimed the lives of 26 women this year.
“We’re here today to demand that governments of all levels, must do better, including my own, and every state and territory government,” he said.
“We’re here as well to say that society, and Australia, must do better.
“We need to change the culture, we need to change attitudes, we need to change the legal system.
“We need to change the approach by all governments because it is not enough to support victims, we need to focus on the perpetrators and focus on prevention.”
Mr Albanese suggested he had asked the rally organisers for permission to speak but had been knocked back.
“We did ask to speak, myself and (Finance minister) Katy (Gallagher) and we were told that’s not possible,” he said.
“And that’s fine, we respect the organisers’ right to do that.”
A woman next to the prime minister interjected: ““That’s a lie.”
Earlier, rally organiser Sarah Williams commenced the demonstration by sharing her own experiences of family and domestic violence, as well as homelessness.
In an awkward and tense exchange, Ms Williams then demanded the politicians present commit to the organisation’s demands, and declare that the recent spate of murders of women by men was a national emergency.
However, the Labor ministers appeared non-responsive and confused, initially refusing to front the rally, a move which brought boos and heckling from the audience.
“Why are you even here?” one protester yelled from the crowd.
“Shame on you,” shouted another.
Mr Albanese spoke about some of the actions his government had taken to address the problem, including the introduction of domestic violence payments.
A protester interrupted, saying “it’s not enough”.
The prime minister replied,“I agree it’s not enough. I said that. We need to do more.”
Even as his words were punctuated with booing and jeering from the crowd, Mr Albanese soldiered on through his address, committing that the government he led would redouble its efforts to counter gender-based violence.
Mr Albanese said he would convene a meeting of the national cabinet on Wednesday to discuss the issue of domestic and family violence with state and territory first ministers.
Mr Albanese finished his speech by calling the problem a “national crisis” and said one or two months of funding would not be enough to solve it.
“It’s up to men to change men’s behaviour as well,” he said.
“Yes, people do need to be made accountable and I’ll be accountable for what my government does.”
The Prime Minister then made his way to his waiting motorcade, subsequently departing Capital Hill and the 5000-strong crowd assembled on the front lawn
Marching from Commonwealth Park, on the northern shores of Lake Burley Griffin to the front lawns of Commonwealth Parliament House, several thousand protesters chanted slogans and brandished signs that read “26 women killed this year” and “Enough is enough”.
What Were You Wearing, a community organisation advocating against gender-based violence, calling for increased funding for domestic and sexual violence services.
The not-for-profit is additionally demanding enhanced reporting options for those experiencing family violence and new rules that prevent media from publishing images of women killed by men for 48 hours following the murder.
State and federal governments are facing renewed pressure to take further action to end domestic violence after 26 women were allegedly killed by men the first 115 days of the year.
Mr Albanese earlier said in a post to Instagram Australia “must do better”.
“Violence against women is an epidemic. We must do better,” Mr Albanese said in a post to Instagram.
“Governments need to do better and as a society, we need to do better.”
Rallies have also been held in Melbourne, Brisbane and several regional centres.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan and her deputy Ben Carroll, as well as federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, joined the Melbourne rally.
An estimated 15,000 people turned out in Melbourne.
“Today we’re marching for all the victims and for us and our futures,” one organiser said.“This is a very moving and stressful event.”
Queensland Premier Steven Miles and Opposition Leader David Crisafulli both attended the Brisbane event.
“Today it’s fantastic to see so many Queenslanders out in force supporting those Queenslanders, sending a message that that kind of behaviour is just not acceptable in our state or in our society,” Mr Miles said.
“I think men need to be advocates too. We need to support the women of our state, we need to send a signal that we don’t accept violence, and we need to tell other men that that kind of behaviour as well as coercive control, it’s just not acceptable.”
“No More: National Rally Against Gender Based Violence” rallies took place in Sydney, Hobart and Adelaide on Saturday afternoon.
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and wife Lucy, as well as NSW Premier Chris Minns and MP Rose Jackson were all in attendance.
Three women died over the past week, including 28-year-old mother Molly Ticehurst in Forbes, in regional NSW and 49-year-old Emma Bates in Cobram, near the border of NSW and Victoria.
A third woman, 30-year-old mother-of-four Erica Hay was found dead after a house fire in Warnbro, in Perth’s south at 1am on Friday.
Five women were stabbed to death in the Westfield Bondi Junction attack by a man three weeks ago. A male security guard was also killed.
The rallies, organised by advocacy group What Were You Wearing also took place in Newcastle and Ballarat on Friday.More are scheduled to take place in Melbourne, Perth, Bendigo, the Sunshine Coast, Geelong, Brisbane, Coffs Harbour, Canberra, Gold Coast, Orange, Wagga Wagga and Combram on Sunday.
More to come
