Women are f**king angry and raging as violence sweeps Australia
Three treacherous days in Australia sum up a pervasive issue that is destroying our country. And women are raging.
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OPINION
We are not safe on the running tracks.
We are not safe in our workplaces.
We are not safe in our houses.
We are not safe in our backyards.
We are not safe in our hospitals.
We are not safe at our children’s after school activities.
We are not safe in our streets.
WOMEN. ARE. NOT. SAFE.
Women across Australia are seething. We are angry as f**k and we have every right to be.
Wait … was that the sound of you asking “Why?” Well let me tell you a story.
As I write, 18 women have been allegedly killed in just 10 weeks in Australia. For the mathematically disinclined, this equates to one woman erased across our country every four days (on average) this year.
But our anger is not about maths. It’s not about numbers. It’s not about equations.
We rage because every woman deserves a right to live a life free of violence – and yet, we are often denied this.
I know. Such a basic human need and but it’s one that is almost impossible to attain for so many Aussie women.
Let’s pause a little and cast our minds back to last Thursday (March 7). On that day, Victoria Police charged a 22-year-old man with the murder of Ballarat runner Samantha Murphy. She had been missing since February 4. She was disappeared while she was doing what many other women do routinely – going for a jog. Her body has not been found.
The next day was International Women’s Day – and two more women were dead. A 60-year-old mum was allegedly stabbed to death, police say, at her home in Evans Head, NSW. Cops found her body rammed into the boot of a Volkswagen – what an absolutely sh*tty way for anyone to be treated.
Her son has since been charged with murder.
Also on March 8, social worker Joanne Perry, 53, was knifed to death by her daughter at Lower Plenty in Victoria. The killer was shot dead by police after she refused to surrender her weapon. Yet another woman erased by the one person she should have been able to trust.
On March 9, the body of Chaithanya (Swetha) Madhagani was found jammed in a locked wheelie bin on a dusty back road at Buckley in Victoria.
SHE. WAS. DISPOSED. OF. LIKE. GARBAGE. How can we women not be angry about this?
It’s believed Swetha died after an incident at her home and her body was dumped in the bush. No one has been charged.
Take a look at this photo of Swetha with her three-year-old boy and tell me it doesn’t bring shivers down your spine.
That’s a recap of just three days in Australia.
There are killed women many of you have never heard of – women like Bonnie Lee Anderson who was stabbed and burned so badly she spent 16 months in hospital before succumbing to her injuries in January of this year. The man accused of the attack has already been sentenced for attempted murder. Her family’s only solace is he will spend at least 27 years in jail.
Violence against women feels relentless right now. We women are cloaked in anger, despair, sadness, rage – all of the emotions.
And as women are dying, our political leaders are failing us week in, week out.
Take, for example, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s promise to roll out 500 extra domestic violence workers across Australia.
Since making that commitment two years ago only 17 extra specialists have been employed nationally. That’s 17 people expected to provide support for the millions of Australian women who will experience violence in their lifetime.
And Scott Morrison’s government doesn’t get a free pass either.
He of the “lucky they weren’t shot while protesting” comment made a commitment to help women in domestic violence crisis, announcing a special federal payment for women fleeing abuse. This scheme is almost impossible to access, with more than half the applicants rejected.
Not every woman (and I cannot stress this enough) is killed as a result of domestic violence, but there’s almost no resources available for women who are likely to be killed by someone who is not a relative.
Of the 18 deaths I’ve recorded in 2024, 10 women were allegedly killed by a partner or family member. Six women were allegedly killed by an associate (that is someone they knew who was not related to them) and two were allegedly lost to violence perpetrated by strangers.
Documenting the context of violence is vital because it clearly shows who the victims and the perpetrators are and where we need to plug holes in the safety nets.
I’ve recorded some 3000 deaths over the past eight years – and there is one indisputable fact in these stories of lives lived and lost. Women are more likely to be erased by men than females.
So yeah, it’s a case of #NotAllMen but almost always a man!
There are cases mentioned in this story in which men have been charged, and yes we do not yet know whether those men are guilty or innocent of the charges.
Women are angry about male violence and we’re even angrier by the ongoing suggestion that male violence is a woman’s problem. We see this every day in the way some people talk about killed women – the victim-blaming lines like “why was she with him?”, “why didn’t she leave”, “why did she go running alone?”.
At some point Australia needs to have an honest talk about male violence against women – and the role men should – and must – play in finding a solution.
We cannot end our femicide epidemic if the key reason for it is quietly swept under the rug every time a female life is lost.
And that Australia, is why we women are angry right now.
Women allegedly killed in 2024
There is no suggestion of guilt or innocence in relation to the individuals listed below and who are facing charges.
January 2, 2024: The body of Janice Walker, 68, was found in her home at Urangan, Queensland. It’s suspected Janice was killed by her partner who also ended his own life.
January 7, 2024: Nerol Doble, 65, was killed in a fire at her home in Bribbaree, New South Wales. Her son is charged with her murder and other offences.
January 5, 2024: Mother-of-two Alison (Ali) Robinson, 39, died in a fire at her home in Sanders Street, Glenorchy, Tasmania. A man is charged with her murder.
January 28, 2024: Mum-of-two Keira Marshall, 29, died from a gunshot wound at a home in Morayfield, Queensland. An 18-year-old has been charged.
January 28, 2024: Mum-of-four Alana Martin, 30, was killed in her home at Owanyilla, Queensland. Her former partner has been charged with her murder.
February 3, 2024: Teacher and grandmother Vyleen White, 70, was allegedly stabbed to death at the Town Square Redbank Plains Shopping Centre, Redbank Plains, Queensland. A 16-year-old male is charged with her murder and three other youths are facing other charges.
February 2, 2024: Antoinette (Toni) Tozer, 76, and her son, Steven Tozer, 55, were allegedly killed in their home at Rosewater, South Australia. A neighbour is charged with their murders.
February 7, 2024: Donna Baraket was killed in her home at Tweed Heads, New South Wales. Her tenant is charged with her murder.
February 9, 2024: Samira Kamaleddine, 81, died almost five weeks after she was beaten and choked at the Bankstown Hospital, Bankstown, New South Wales. A man is charged with her murder.
February 16, 2024: Mother-of-two Amarjit Kaur Sardar was allegedly killed at Woodhill, Queensland. Her husband is charged with her murder and interfere with a corpse.
February 16, 2024: Mum-of-five Rebecca Young, 42, was stabbed to death by her partner Ian Butler at her home in Sebastopol, Victoria. After killing Rebecca, Butler ended his own life.
February 19, 2024: Mother Min (Sue) Cho, 41, and a seven-year-old boy were allegedly strangled to death at the Taekwondo Martial Arts Academy, North Parramatta, New South Wales. Min’s husband Steven Cho was killed at their home in Baulkham Hills. A man is alleged to have killed all three of the victims.
January 26, 2024: Mother-of-six Bonnie Lee Anderson, 39, died in hospital 16 months after she was attacked by her former partner Daryl Allan Robertson at her home in Charnwood, Australian Capital Territory. Robertson was originally sentenced to 27 years in jail for attempted murder. Robertson used a knife and a series of homemade blow torches in the assault on Bonnie. She never left hospital.
February 27, 2024: Mum-of-four Natasha Nibizi, 29, was killed in her home at Doolandella, Queensland. It’s believed she was murdered by her former partner Habib Bayat. After killing Natasha, Bayat ended his own life.
February 4, 2024: Mum-of-three Samantha Murphy, 51, disappeared while on a run in the Canadian State Forest, Ballarat, Victoria. On March 7, police charged a 22-year-old with Samantha’s murder.
March 8, 2024: An unnamed 60-year-old woman was stabbed to death and her body dumped in the boot a car at Evans Head, New South Wales. Her son is charged with her murder.
March 8, 2024: Social worker Joanne Perry, 53, was stabbed to death by her daughter, 26, at Kett Street, Lower plenty, Victoria. Police responded to a call for help and shot and killed the younger woman after she refused to drop her weapon.
March 9, 2024: Chaithanya (Swetha) Madhagani’s body was found in a padlocked wheelie bin on Mount Pollock Road, Buckley, Victoria. It’s believed the mother-of-one was dumped there after an incident at her home in Point Cook. Her husband then left Australia. No one has been charged.
News Corp’s Sherele Moody has multiple journalism excellence awards for her work highlighting violence in Australia. Sherele is also an Our Watch fellow and the founder of The RED HEART Campaign, the Australian Femicide Watch, the Australian Femicide & Child Death Map and All That Remains: The Memorial to Women and Children Lost to Violence | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Originally published as Women are f**king angry and raging as violence sweeps Australia
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