‘We have a crisis of male violence’: Attorney-General says men must step up

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus will call out a crisis of male violence in Australia and demand that men step up to prevent it, after the number of women killed in violent incidents so far this year reached 24, including five in a stabbing rampage at Sydney’s Bondi Junction last weekend.

In a speech that places responsibility for the scourge of violence squarely on Australian men, the chief law officer will also acknowledge the distress being felt across the country following recent murders.

A rally against violence against women in Ballarat last week.Credit: Eddie Jim

The Victorian town of Ballarat rallied last Friday after three women were killed in two months, while the next day in Sydney, five women died in Joel Cauchi’s stabbing rampage through Bondi Junction.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said he seemed to be focused on attacking women and avoiding men as he struck victims in the shopping centre.

Dreyfus will say that his speech, to be given at a family violence event on Friday in front of advocates such as Rosie Batty and Tarang Chawla, takes place “against the backdrop of shocking acts of violence against women in recent months, weeks and days”.

“Police investigations and judicial processes must be allowed to run their course without interference. But we must acknowledge the devastating consequences of this violence and the deep distress being felt in our community right now,” he will say.

“We have a crisis of male violence in Australia. It is a scourge in our society and it must end.

“To create lasting change, women cannot be expected to solve violence against women alone. It’s time for men to step up. It’s our responsibility to educate ourselves, our sons, our colleagues and our friends. We must focus on prevention, working together and finding new ways of doing things.”

His comments echo those made by Batty, who on the 10th anniversary of her son’s death called for men to step up as the majority perpetrators of violence, as well as remarks made by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the aftermath of the Bondi stabbing.

On Tuesday, Albanese said that women should not have to change their behaviour.

“Men are overwhelmingly the perpetrators of this violence and men as a group have to change their behaviour,” he said.

“We have to be prepared to speak out about these issues. We have to be prepared to talk to our friends and people we know. We have to be prepared to call out behaviour that we see when it’s unacceptable.”

Dreyfus said governments, organisations, frontline services, law enforcement, the judiciary, academic institutions, families and the community would need to work together to change the situation.

New family law reforms, which will require courts to consider a history of family violence in divorce proceedings, come into effect next month. Dreyfus is also working on laws to give domestic violence victims a greater slice of the home in property disputes.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus puts the responsibility on men to stop violence against women.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

A new set of national principles has sought to raise awareness about coercive control, while the Australian Law Reform Commission is also holding an inquiry into improving how sexual assault cases move through the justice system.

But Dreyfus says there is still “much to do”.

“Fundamental to that shift is acknowledging that overwhelmingly, violence against women in Australia is perpetrated by men,” he will say.

“One death of a woman at the hands of a man is one too many. One death a week is an epidemic. It must end ... Violence against women is not inevitable. We must acknowledge where we are going wrong and where we can do better.”

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