Australia is responding to domestic violence after the event, not preventing it from happening

Four domestic violence-related deaths in one weekend in New South Wales have reignited questions about what more can be done to protect vulnerable people, two years after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese labelled domestic and gender-based violence a “ national crisis ”.

Last weekend, four people were killed , including one child, in separate incidents (two children also suffered serious injuries).

While significant money has been spent Australia-wide on worthy initiatives such as women’s shelters , crisis lines and safe at home packages , it appears our governments are focusing on responding to men’s violence after the event – not preventing it in the first place.

The attacks and the response At the weekend, three men were charged with domestic violence-related murders in NSW.

Police allege two women, aged 23 and 90, were fatally stabbed in separate incidents in their homes in Wagga Wagga and Sydney’s Bondi Beach.

A third woman, aged 70, was found dead at a property in the state’s Northern Tablelands region.

Later on Sunday a five-year-old child died after being stabbed in the Blue Mountains, with two siblings and a woman also suffering stab wounds.

Police have confirmed the woman, the children’s mother, is a suspect in the attack.

The horrific incidents led NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Peter McKenna to state : in my career, I don’t think I have seen a weekend like this or a 48-hour period […] four different incidents, all completely separate, all with tragic outcomes, just shows that domestic violence doesn’t know postcodes, doesn’t know what people do for a living.

In response, NSW Premier Chris Minns said Australians couldn’t “become numb to the pain or the violence that we see”.

He added: we still need to take action and commit ourselves across government agencies, law reform, our prisons, New South Wales police, and education and other aspects of government agencies, as well as across civic society, to confront domestic violence when we see it.

Kellie Sloane, the state’s opposition leader, said : something is broken and we’re failing women in our state and our country.

So what can we do now? It’s usually men who commit this violence Finding reliable data on domestic and family violence is tricky: most victims do not formally report to authorities, while police data tend to capture only the most severe cases, and legal definitions vary across Australia.

But the issue appears to be getting worse: in March, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reported an 8% rise in domestic violence cases in the 2024–25 financial year – the highest rate recorded since national reporting began.