Australia’s family violence crisis has been labelled a national disgrace by one of the country's most senior judicial officers. At least one woman in Australia is killed every week by a man known to her. At a summit on the issue in Melbourne today, men have been called on to 'step up'.
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00:00 Judicial leaders, lawmakers and frontline workers all brought together in the fight
00:06 against family violence.
00:07 It is a national disgrace and it's time we do more about it.
00:12 In its first national roundtable, the Federal Circuit and Family Courts of Australia looked
00:17 to find solutions to a growing emergency.
00:20 There is no doubt it is getting worse.
00:22 We are seeing from our own data in the courts that high risk family violence in cases filed
00:28 was thought to be around 38 per cent.
00:30 It's more like 60 per cent.
00:32 We do have a national crisis in this country and this court is absolutely committed to
00:37 making sure that it's playing its part.
00:39 Addressing the crowd was the Attorney General Mark Dreyfus who called on men to step up.
00:45 One death of a woman at the hands of a man is one too many.
00:50 One death a week is an epidemic.
00:53 His comments echoed by prominent anti-violence campaigner Terang Chola, whose sister Nikki
00:58 was murdered by her partner in 2015.
01:02 There is a human cost behind those statistics.
01:04 There's always an empty seat at that table.
01:09 Today's symposium comes against a backdrop of recent violence against women.
01:14 At least 24 women have been killed in Australia this year, 10 more than this time last year.
01:21 In Victoria they include Samantha Murphy, Swersa Madigani, Rebecca Young and Hannah
01:26 Maguire, all allegedly murdered by men.
01:30 Last weekend's devastating Bondi attack saw five women killed by a man who the New South
01:35 Wales Police Commissioner said appeared to be focused on women.
01:39 And as the community grieves, outrage grows.
01:42 Last week hundreds took to the streets of Ballarat demanding action.
01:49 It's rare for judicial leaders to speak out publicly on any topic.
01:53 Today's roundtable is a clear sign of the crisis facing Australia amid surging levels
01:58 of family violence and violence against women.
02:01 We just can't stand for it anymore so there has to be a public conversation about it.
02:05 A call to action for a nation in mourning.
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