About time we f***ing stop it’: Major rally against domestic violence ‘crisis’
Thousands of people have gathered in Brisbane to march against sexual and domestic violence, demanding action to stop the “crisis”.
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Thousands have gathered in Brisbane to march against sexual and domestic violence, demanding action to stop the “crisis”.
The rally made its way through Adelaide St, Edward St, Charlotte St and George St before making its way back to King George Square.
There were cries of “shame”, “no more”, and “remember the disabled” as the keynote speakers addressed the crowd, before the crowd chanted “we won’t take it anymore, no more violence, no more hate” as well as “no excuses, no delays, end the violence here today”.
March organising committee member Jordyn Gray, founder of The Athena Project which supports veteran victim-survivors of sexual violence in Australia, said the march was a show of force.
“I’m here today because people need to understand that violence against women and domestic violence is a crisis in Australia at the moment,” Ms Gray said.
“We need action, we need more than politicians coming out to show their support, we need actual change, we need legislated change.”
Ms Gray added that men need to be included as part of the solution to domestic violence.
“We’ve got so many men here, it is important to recognise that men are the problem, so they also need to be part of the solution,” she said.
“Currently, one woman dies every four days in Australia at the hands of a man with domestic violence and it is about time we f***ing stop it.”
An advocate for people living with a disability recounted a story of a friend who has autism and who was also a domestic violence victim.
She said her friend as well as her friend’s two daughters, both aged under six, were raped by the woman’s ex-partner.
“I know of a young mum who has fled across the state to break away from her abusers. She and her two little girls.
“This man is currently sentenced to 10 years in prison on another woman’s charge. They couldn’t testify against this first offender due to the age of the victim. She was two at the time. After fleeing this situation, an ex-partner was also a perpetrator of male violence and sexual coercion. In this time, the girls were then assaulted by another man, but due to their disabilities and the communication barrier, the charges are temporarily suspended.
“All three victims are autistic. My friend, their mum was also groomed by a family member since birth. And it wasn’t until her diagnosis that she was able to understand that what she went through wasn’t normal. And she was able to untangle the web of trauma she had lived through for the past decades.
“As an autistic woman, she was more susceptible to this grooming and she had been conditioned to consider this normal male behaviour.
“These girls are so young and yet are already part of an ever growing statistic. This needs to change. We have lost 32 women already this year to gendered violence, shame. We need the government to take serious action and say no more because we are sick to death of not being able to walk home, to be in relationships, to be in Parliament House or even to exist without feeling threatened. You are all incredibly powerful.”
In an emotive address to the crowd Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath, who has previously shared her experiences of being sexually harassed, said she would like to see men rallying, standing up, protecting the women in their life, and taking accountability for their actions.
“I want to see men organising and hundreds of thousands of men rallies saying they are tired and angry of their daughters and their partners and their sisters and their mothers being controlled, abused, and killed,” Ms D’Ath said.
“There are the ones we know of, but there are so many more who take their lives because they can’t deal with the pain and the trauma, they don’t feel like they are being listened to.
“We’re listening but we need you to help us and we need the men of this country to stand up and take some responsibility.
“We need men talking to men, we need men talking to boys.”
Ms D’Ath said it was crucial for governments to listen to people with lived experiences of domestic violence in bringing about change.
“We are trying and we will keep trying, but we will talk with you because if we do not listen to people with live experience, we will never, ever get a change,” she said.
Greens Senator Larissa Waters said the federal government should be allocating more funding towards sexual violence and domestic violence services, rather than “giving money to fight wars overseas”.
“We are in a national crisis and what is our government doing? They’re giving money to nuclear submarines, they’re giving money to fight wars overseas, they just gave a billion dollars to defence,” Senator Waters said.
“You know what they’re not doing? They’re not funding frontline family, domestic violence, and sexual violence services.
“Those services work on the smell of an oily rag, they help people but they don’t have enough funding to help everyone who reaches out for help.
“They don’t have enough crisis housing for survivors to be safe in, we don’t have enough long-term affordable housing for survivors to live in, and what’s more we don’t have a judiciary that says the survivor shouldn’t have to move, the perpetrator should have to move.”
Premier Steven Miles also attended the rally and described the issue of ending sexual violence and domestic violence as “really important”.
“Too many Queensland women have lost their lives, too many Queensland women and children have suffered from domestic violence. And so 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.
“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.
“I’m committed to meeting with (the organisers) this week to hear about those concerns. I understand they’re experiencing a massive surge in demand for their services. We want to make sure they can deliver those services. They do such an incredible job and we want to support that.”
Opposition Leader David Crisafulli also attended on Sunday.
“We’ve got to send a message (that it) can’t continue, we’ve got to do that as leaders in the community and to see the numbers today, it tells you that people have reached that point.
“This can’t keep happening ... And there’s been no shortage over the years about reports and recommendations. We’ve got to follow those stories. Today’s crowd shows the message for change, and that we owe it to women to do better, and to do much, much better.
“I think to have some leaders across the political spectrum here is really important. And it’s important that we send the message and continue. And it’s important that we look at this crowd and realise that you’ve got a generation of women who say that it can’t continue to happen and a generation of men who are willing to stand beside them and say, ‘no, this isn’t good enough’, and we’re better than that as a state and we have to drive change and change occurs when people speak out. And change occurs when there’s accountability to follow through on the changes that are needed.”
It is understood that Minister for Health and Ambulance Services former Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman attended the march with her mother.
What Were You Wearing Australia organised 17 rallies across Australia on Sunday, including the Brisbane one.
Sarah Williams, founder and chief executive officer of What Were You Wearing Australia, a not-for-profit organisation fighting to ending sexual and domestic violence, said she hoped the Brisbane rally helps to bring about immediate change.
“We’ve organised 17 rallies around the country because 32 women have lost their lives to violence in 2024,” Ms Williams said.
“We are really calling on the government to actually do something about it to make change, that’s why we’re rallying.”
As for an outcome, Ms Williams has called out the Attorney-General and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to act.
“We are hoping that Yvette D’Ath commits money to our organisation and other organisations in Queensland,” she said.
“I’m also really hoping that Anthony Albanese actually comes out and says it’s a national emergency, which would hopefully bring about immediate change.”
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