Following killing, Australians want stricter legislation against violence against women
Australia has seen a spate of recent violence against women, which has prompted rallies.
Protesters want stringent legislation to eradicate gender-based violence and the declaration of a national emergency.
Anthony Albanese, the prime minister, described the problem as a national emergency.
So far this year, Australia has seen the death of a woman once every four days on average.
"We want alternative methods of reporting for victim survivors to let them own their stories, their healing, as well as their reporting journey," organizer Martina Ferrara said.
"And we want the government to acknowledge this is an urgent issue and take immediate action."
Speaking during a march through Canberra's capital city that drew thousands of demonstrators, Mr. Albanese acknowledged that all tiers of government needed to improve.
"We need to change culture, the attitudes, the legal system as well as the way of thinking by all governments," he said.
"We need to make sure that the task isn't up to women, it's up to men to change men's behaviour as well," he said.
In response to demonstrators' requests for the designation of violence against women as a national emergency, Mr. Albanese said that such a designation is often used in times of floods or bushfires to provide a short-term financial boost.
"We don't need one month or two months - we need to start tackling this in a serious way, week by week, month by month, year by year," he said.
Mr. Albanese said that he had been informed in advance that he would not be permitted to speak at the event, which sparked a heated discussion with rally organizer Sarah Williams while several members of the audience chastised him.
"That is untrue. The footage of the event shows Ms. Williams stating, "That's a full out lie," just before she seems to start crying.
Ms. Williams accused the prime minister of acting like "a man with power trying to diminish a vulnerable young woman" and said that he had requested to speak "because he was being heckled" in a statement released on Monday.
Declaring that the dispute should not be "a distraction form what is a very serious issue indeed," Mr. Albanese told Seven News, "I was happy simply to attend as a participant or happy to speak, either way."
Mark Dreyfus, the federal attorney general of Australia, has declined to convene a royal commission on gender-based violence.
Gender-based violence, which Mr. Albanese has often referred to as a pandemic, is not new; nationwide marches against claims of sexual misconduct in the legislature and society occurred in 2021.
An estimated 3,000 people demonstrated on Saturday in front of Adelaide's parliament building.
Around Friday and Saturday, there were protests in Newcastle, Brisbane, Melbourne, the Gold Coast, and 9News.
An assault on women that has wreaked havoc throughout Australia
The topic is once again in the news due to recent murders.
A guy fatally stabbed six people in a Sydney retail center earlier this month. The authorities are investigating whether or if the five female victims were the intended target.
According to Karen Webb, commissioner of the New South Wales Police Force, "the offender focused on women as well as avoided the men".
The charges against a man for the suspected murder of Erica Hay, a 30-year-old mother of four who was discovered dead after a home fire in Perth earlier this month, also coincided with the demonstrations.
Based on statistics provided by the advocacy organization Destroy the Joint, 27 women have died in the first 119 days of 2024.
