‘What will it take?’: The question the country is once again asking

Analysis: “Our thoughts are with the women, the families, and the loved ones.”

We’ve heard that sentiment repeated dozens of times this year and once again on Monday from Women’s Minister Katy Gallagher and Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek after three women were killed in separate alleged domestic violence-related incidents in less than 24 hours in NSW.

They are 90-year-old Valentina Spivak from Bondi Beach, an unidentified 70-year-old woman from Mole River and an unidentified 23-year-old woman from Wagga Wagga.

They are among 52 women and children killed so far this year, an average of one woman or child killed every four days, according to the Australian Femicide Watch. And behind every number is a person.

Full Stop Australia chief executive Karen Bevan said: “Every life lost is an absolute tragedy, and it shouldn’t become routine.

“Every single one of those women was a person on their own who had all of those people in their lives that cared a whole life that you know has been cut short, and we absolutely need to stop and notice that.”

No To Violence chief executive Phillip Ripper said: “Behind these numbers are women whose lives have been taken, families grieving and communities asking the same question again and again: what will it take to stop this happening?”

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The latest national homicide data found one-third or 29 of all 279 people killed in the 2024-25 financial year were domestic violence-related, with most victims being women or girls.

The results were even more harrowing for First Nations people, who were killed at six times the national rate, with two-thirds of all people being domestic violence-related.

Most victims, or 76 per cent, were women killed by an intimate partner.

The federal government had put $4.7 billion towards its 10-year national domestic violence plan in 2023.

The matter was raised again at a national cabinet meeting last month following a spate of high-profile sexual assault investigations and calls from independent MP Allegra Spender, whose electorate is reeling from Spivak’s death.

State and territory leaders have agreed to accelerate efforts to end gender-based violence.

Australian Femicide Watch’s Sherele Moody has, however, criticised the response from political leaders after each death of a woman or child.

“We’ve seen hundreds of headlines published about the shark attack in Perth this past week but there’s been very few published on the deaths of women this week,” she said.

“When women are killed, we’re asked ‘what did she do to deserve it’, the perpetrators score a ‘good bloke narrative’, political leaders have no words of condolence and calls for increased funding, support services and better legal responses fall on deaf ears.

“Where there is a policy response, it’s always reactive and far too minimal.”

Tired calls are once again on the federal government to drastically increase funding in the ever-struggling domestic violence sector.

“It could always be better. I think that’s the bottom line. But we can’t do a lot more unless governments, both state and federal, are prepared to say, okay, let’s just take the cap off resources and get serious,” Bevan said.

“I do think the leadership is on keeping the pressure on every jurisdiction and in the federal sphere, to make sure that governments don’t only share thoughts and prayers, but seriously deliver on the resources they know that need to be implemented.”

“We’re funding the ambulance and leaving the road unfixed,” Ripper said.

Gallagher and Plibersek were unable to offer much more than their calls for everyone – workplaces, organisations and state and territory governments – to do their part.

“There is no easy solution. If there was one, we would have already put it in place,” Gallagher said.

“We owe these women more than our sorrow. Every level of government, every community organisation, our schools and workplaces, every family – all of us need to work together to keep women and children safe,” Plibersek said in a statement.

And Labor’s political opponents did not go any further.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor on Monday said he would support prevention efforts and called to “confront the risk factors and ensure the justice system operates to keep women safe”.

One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson, who labelled domestic violence a “two-way street” in July, has not made any remarks about the deaths over the weekend.

Today’s message is as clear as it has always been: the death of a woman or child must not become just another headline.

But, without the enormous political will needed to change that, it will likely be another sentiment repeated.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) or Lifeline 13 11 14