More than 50 women have died in a domestic violence setting this year.
Experts refer to the killing of innocent women at the hands of someone known to them as a femicide, and a national crisis.
They say that disproportionately, women take the lead on the political and organisational response to the deaths of women.
And, disproportionately, men are the perpetrators.
To find out what male politicians think of the domestic violence crisis, the ABC reached out to all 92 male MPs in the House of Representatives.
As — disproportionately — it is female MPs who are the ministers relevant to family violence, taking meetings with relevant organisations and making relevant speeches in the House.
When presented with the results, that four out of five male MPs did not respond, one expert reflected that the lack of response meant they weren't taking "violence against women in their communities as a priority".
We asked them:
- Do you believe the government you currently serve is doing enough to combat domestic violence? (For government MPs)
- What would you like to see the Albanese government do about this issue? (For opposition MPs)
- What active steps have you taken in your communities to help address women dying at the hands of their partners?
- What kind of cultural change do you think would help make a difference in your communities?
Just 20 out of the 92 MPs responded by publication and only nine had answered the questions asked.
Once followed up, 23 responded and 18 answered questions.
So what did the politicians say?
Nine out of 41 male Labor MPs responded
Nearly every response from MPs across the political spectrum included an endorsement for the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children.
There are 41 male Labor MPs. Nine responded to questions with a statement.
Seven pointed to the Albanese government's investments in the plan, in particular the $2.3 billion figure, and several also noted amending the Fair Work Act for 10 days' paid family and domestic violence leave.
The Coalition has 44 male MPs and seven responded to questions. Two independents and two Greens MPs also replied.
Speaker of the House and Labor MP Milton Dick said he did not comment on policy and Greens MP Max Chandler Mathers's office told the ABC he was on paternity leave so he couldn't comment.
Many MPs also referenced the work of their local domestic violence shelters and services. Independent Andrew Gee said he helped secure more than $1 million in federal funding for his local domestic violence refuge in Orange NSW, The Orchard.
Fellow independent Andrew Wilkie said he was currently pressing the government to fund improved crisis accommodation in Hobart.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton's office sent a response attributed to a spokesman for the Queensland Liberal MP that they said acted as a "consolidated response from the Coalition".
'Wherever gender-based violence occurs, we must confront it'
Nationals member for Gippsland Darren Chester, in one of the longest responses the ABC received, said he was ashamed that his electorate of Gippsland had a high rate of domestic violence offences.
"That's why I'm committed to examining my own language and actions to make sure I'm doing everything I can to lead by example," he said.
"And that's why I believe we all need to have difficult conversations with other men and boys about what's acceptable behaviour, understanding the meaning of consent and pushing back on the violent porn industry which gives young men a warped and contaminated perspective of respectful relationships.
"We need to work together to build a culture where women are treated equal, where they're not objectified and they're not subject to sexist jokes or remarks."
Labor MP and Education Minister Jason Clare said that in his portfolio, the government was investing $83.5 million in consent education: "To deliver evidenced-based and expert-developed respectful relationships education in school."
"Wherever gender-based violence occurs, we must confront it. In our homes, in our parliaments, in our universities, in our workplaces," Mr Clare said.
'I don't subscribe to the view inferred in your questions'
Liberal MP for Berowra Julian Leeser took issue with the ABC's questions and the decision to contact only male MPs.
"I don't subscribe to the view inferred in your questions [that] this is the fault of the Albanese government or indeed male members of parliament," he said.
"There is an immediacy about the issue, but it is far too important to play politics or to sensationalise, or to prescribe on-the-run solutions for a quick media story."
Mr Leeser drew the ABC's attention to his advocacy on behalf of a woman in his electorate, after challenging the Albanese government to change laws surrounding the Hague Convention — which have now been altered by Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus.
"More broadly, issues relating to any specific opposition policy settings are best answered by Sussan Ley as the shadow minister for women and Michaelia Cash as the shadow attorney-general," Mr Leeser said.
Mr Leeser did not refer the ABC to the relevant ministers for family violence, Shadow Minister for Social Services Michael Sukkar, who did not respond to the ABC, or Assistant Shadow Minister for Social Services Pat Conaghan, who did respond.
"I am committed to working with any individual, organisation or party who dedicates themselves to ending violence against women, children and families. We owe it to our communities and our future generations to get the balance right TODAY," Mr Conaghan said.
The most senior member of the current government to provide a statement was Mr Dreyfus, a Labor MP, who provided a two-line response to the ABC's queries.
'Speak to Rishworth'
Labor frontbenchers Mark Butler, Brendan O'Connor and Patrick Gorman referred the ABC's questions to Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth.
In Mr Gorman's electorate of Perth, according to Counting Dead Women data, three women have been killed violently this year alone — two of them in the space of two weeks.
When further pressed on a response, Mr Gorman's office replied with a statement including: "There is no place, no electorate in Australia, where gender-based violence is acceptable."
In Mr Butler's electorate of Hindmarsh, 85-year-old Maria Dimasi was killed in her home and 38-year-old Julie Seed at her workplace.
Ms Dimasi was the fourth woman to die in South Australia in just one week.
The South Australian state government announced a royal commission into family and domestic violence after a total of six women were killed over several weeks.
The only other South Australian MP who responded to the ABC was Liberal Member for Grey Rowan Ramsey, in whose electorate two women have been killed this year.
Mr Ramsey said the kind of cultural change he would like to see to make a difference in the high rates of domestic violence was more respect, or as he put it: "Simple good manners."
Mr Ramsey and WA Liberal MP Rick Wilson both called in their answers for the Cashless Debit Card to be re-instated.
'Violence against women is a man's problem'
According to Destroy the Joint's Counting Dead Women, 61 women have been violently killed this year.
In almost every case, a male partner or family member has been charged in relation to the death.
Destroy the Joint says a woman is killed by an intimate partner every 11 days, a figure that is reducing year on year in Australia.
Patricia Cullen analyses the data collected by Counting Dead Women and is a senior lecturer at the University of New South Wales.
She believes it is "very telling" that only 20 out of 92 MPs responded to questions.
"This signals that four out of five male MPs in our parliament do not see preventing violence against women in their communities as a priority, and perhaps not even as part of their responsibilities — sadly, this seems to reflect the attitudes of many men in our communities, who do not consider violence, which is largely perpetrated by men, as a problem for men to solve," Dr Cullen said.
Survivor, researcher and activist Lula Dembele said the government, and the country, needed to change how it looked at the issue of domestic and family violence.
"It's not a women's issue … violence against women is a man's problem," she said.
"The Australian government has a responsibility for the safety of its citizens, and it is not living up to that expectation or that critical responsibility of government."
Dr Cullen reiterated her point that women, and survivors of all forms of violence, so often lead the response to ending domestic violence.
"This problem is very real for women, many of us have experienced violence, abuse or harassment, and we want to feel safe in our communities, workplaces and our homes — we cannot afford to ignore this problem," she said.
"So it comes back to violence against women being seen as a problem for women to solve."
Perpetrator data needed: experts
Ms Dembele and Dr Cullen agreed that more needed to be known about the perpetrators to get a better idea of their profile, and what makes them offend.
They said that the government needed to look at a more official way of recording offenders to understand.
"This would require us to have better data infrastructure with real-time monitoring of fatal and non-fatal violence to identify points of intervention for women and also for perpetrators," Dr Cullen said.
"If we want to break intergenerational cycles of abuse and violence we need to be supporting boys, men and fathers with interventions that are designed by and led by men and support health masculinities — but we need our male MPs to champion this."
The government used the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women this year to announce a new online system that would provide more up-to-date information on the number of Australians killed by a current or former partner.
But the online tracker will not be live until the middle of next year.
The only MP who pointed to the need for more data on perpetration was Greens MP Stephen Bates: "We need comprehensive respectful relationships education, more data on perpetration, and full funding for prevention and early intervention programs."
As we went to publish this story the 60th and 61st women were killed violently, Tshewang Choden and Julie Seed, both while they were at work.
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2023-12-21 20:39:39Z
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