Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Last week marked 10 years since the murder of Jill Meagher, who was attacked by a stranger while walking home from a night out with friends. Her murder sparked an impassioned national debate on women's safety—another impassioned national debate.

Every year or two since, a senseless and awful act of violence makes the headlines and briefly captures the nation's attention. The murders of Eurydice Dixon, Aya Maasarwe and Courtney Herron and the murder of Hannah Clarke and her three children—these vile acts galvanised the women's movement and its allies to take to the streets to light candles, to write to their politicians pleading for action, reclaiming the night.

But what changes? In the 10 years since Jill Meagher's murder at least 650 women have been killed violently. Many don't make the news, especially if they're women of colour, First Nations women or women with disabilities, and the majority of are not killed by strangers but by people they know. The long-overdue National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children must be fully funded. It must drive cultural change, and no woman should be turned away when she reaches out to a service for help. (Time expired)