Sabra Lane: The Prime Minister will convene a National Cabinet meeting this Wednesday to discuss what more the federal, state and territory governments can do to stop violence against women. It follows rallies held around the nation on the weekend sparked by the number of women killed so far this year. Stephanie Smail reports.
Opinion: Five, six, seven, eight. No more violence, no more hate.
Stephanie Smail: The chants echo through Brisbane's CBD with thousands of men, women and children filling the streets. They're holding up signs saying enough is enough, stop killing women and keep us safe.
Opinion: There is a lot of anger and we need to harness that anger and push for real change. I don't think we can leave it up to future generations to fix, we have to fix it today.
Stephanie Smail: Men marching alongside their partners, families and friends say there's no excuse for violence.
Opinion: We can do better. I grew up in a family with domestic violence and I always asked the question where were the other men? You know, there were uncles, there were friends, there were people who always asked why didn't they step in and do something? The status quo is not good enough, the standards that we have at the moment need to be improved. Five, six, seven, eight. No more violence, no more hate.
Stephanie Smail: The deaths of women have been making headlines all year, including the alleged murder of New South Wales mother Molly Ticehurst, which has prompted a review of the state's bail laws. And as the rallies rolled out across the country, another man was charged. This time over the death of a woman in Western Australia. At Brisbane's rally, former prison manager and domestic violence prevention advocate Shaan Ross-Smith accused governments of neglecting the issue of gender-based violence.
Shaan Ross-Smith: People blame bureaucracy but that's just bullshit. The fact that men's violence against women is not being prioritised at a local, state or federal level is not okay.
Stephanie Smail: Sexual violence prevention advocates Camille Schloeffel and Afrida Imrose echoed her criticism.
Camille Schloeffel: We can't wait to invest in radical change and we don't need another inquiry or new research to know what the problem is because we have been telling you for years.
Afrida Imrose: We owe it to ourselves to go beyond what's made available for us and respect ourselves enough to stop trusting the systems that continue to fail us.
Stephanie Smail: Queensland's Premier Stephen Miles attended the Brisbane rally.
Steven Miles: To support the crowd that's here and to support their calls to end domestic violence.
Stephanie Smail: Does it make you revisit what's in place now? Is there room to make more change?
Steven Miles: This is a national problem and all of the states and territories need to do our part but we also need a national solution.
Stephanie Smail: At a similar rally in Canberra, the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese answered that call, saying he'll meet with state and territory leaders this week.
Anthony Albanese: Governments of all levels must do better, including my own, including every state and territory government.
Sabra Lane: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ending Stephanie Smail's report there.
