AUSTRALIA/The federal government aims to reduce the number of women killed by their intimate partners by 25 per cent each year, under a five-year plan launched by Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth today.
Twenty-five women died at the hands of current or former partners in the year to July 2021, according to the Australian Institute of Criminology. Last year, the majority of family and domestic violence homicide victims were female, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
One in four women has suffered intimate partner violence since the age of 15, while three in five Indigenous women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by a male intimate partner.
The government has set the homicide reduction target as part of its five-year First Action Plan, in a bid to end gender-based violence within a generation.
Ms Rishworth told the ABC the government would rely on Australian Institute of Criminology data for its baseline and to track its progress on the target.
“No woman or child should have their lives terrorized by someone who professed to love and care for them. No woman or child should have their lives ended prematurely due to that violence,” Ms Rishworth said in a statement.
The government will also establish a national peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander family safety, under what it described as the first dedicated action plan for Indigenous Australians — a three-year plan also released today.