Election report card: Where do the major parties stand on addressing violence against women?

This is the story of four major political parties’ commitment to ending violence against women (VAW). The Australian Labor Party (ALP) has costed its manifesto promises; the Australian Greens (the Greens) and the National Party of Australia (the Nationals) have made promises, but not costed them; and the Liberal Party of Australia (the Liberals) has promised little, and costed even less. The ‘Teal’ independents are not a political party with a manifesto so we can’t easily evaluate their commitments; though Zoe Daniel (Goldstein, Victoria), has asked why the major parties are not talking about VAW in this election campaign: “We have a national plan that needs to be adequately funded.

”Eliminating VAW is a national priority. One in five women have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15, and one in three report having experienced physical violence. Last year alone, there were 37 women murdered by their intimate partner.



These figures are devastating. But sadly, not unusual in Australia (or other parts of the world, for that matter). Driving down these figures should be a priority for national political parties and leaders.

After the surge of public interest in combating VAW, including the development of a National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children over the next decade, we might expect that VAW would feature in political parties’ promises during the upcoming election. So, we sought to find out what the commitments of each major party are to end VAW in the lead up to 3 May, 2025 to see if those expectations are born out. We searched for any policies mentioning VAW included in the current election plans for each political party, as well as exploring party websites and media releases.

Labor PartySince the previous election in 2022, VAW has been a key policy focus for the ALP government. Indeed, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese committed his party to end gender-based violence in one generation. This included a $4 billion investment to fund various actions in support of the National Plan.

Yet, during this year’s campaign, the ALP have not announced any new policies that tackle this issue. On the ALP website, VAW is not mentioned in their election plan framework. There were some announcements in the lead up to the campaign, including small funding commitments for legal services and academic research, as well as a $100 million investment in transitional housing.

But there has been no talk of additional funding commitments. Professor Kyllie Cripps has previously argued that the government’s response to the 2024 Senate Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous women committed no “new” funding to end gender-based violence, only that which “was previously announced in response to a rapid review that included $3.9 billion to maintain frontline legal assistance services.

” The ALP has also not yet launched the National Plan for ending violence against Indigenous women and girls, possibly because there are no new funding commitments to support it.The GreensThe Greens have identified 10 policy promises during this election to demonstrate their commitment to ending VAW. The list of policies are easily accessible on their website, but unlike the ALP who have costed their promises, the Greens have not detailed how they will fund these priorities, or what they will cost.

The words “invest” and “increase funding” are identified within their plan, though not accompanied by any numeric value or strategy to achieve the outlined aims. The feasibility of actioning these policy ideas is therefore somewhat questionable.The NationalsThe Nationals have (four) policies that are included within their election plan; two of which mirror those in the Liberals’ plan (word for word).

They are, however, the only party to focus on addressing sexual violence in Indigenous communities, urging a Royal Commission. Like the Greens, the Nationals’ policy ideas to end VAW are not costed. It is stated that they will “increase resources”, but they have not specified the details of what resources are needed or how they will be funded.

Without a comprehensive strategy to enact VAW policy goals, the likelihood of achieving them is low.Liberal PartyEnter the Liberal party. The Liberal party have neither costed, nor identified specific VAW policies or priorities in their 2025 election campaign.

Indeed, VAW is referred to only twice in their 44-page plan: promising to support the extension of emergency payments for victims, and making it illegal to use spyware to make a partner or family member feel unsafe. Compounding this, the promise of “support” in the first policy is vague and does not detail any costing or actionable steps to end VAW. This seems at odds with the first page of the party’s plan in which, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton claims he has always had a “focus on protecting women and children”.

A notable aim, but one without any evidence to suggest the party will invest in, or take measures to action.It is not just the major parties that appear to have forgotten their commitment to ending VAW; in general, this issue has been more broadly pushed to the sidelines. Even the ‘Vote Compass’ survey run by the ABC does not list VAW as an issue or include it as a question to enable voters to compare candidates/parties in considering how they will vote.

It seems VAW is not the priority issue we might have anticipated (and is needed) in this year’s election. It has been left to other organisations and people to push for answers, like No to Violence (NTV), who have organised a national family violence election forum on April 16 to hear from four political leaders about their plans. The positions of the major parties in addressing VAW should be an important consideration for all Australians when deciding which party to vote for.

As a society, we have committed to ending this violence; but this won’t be possible without a firm commitment from the political party in power.Authors: Kayla Carrea is a Research Officer at the Australian Research Council Centre for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (CEVAW)Sara E Davies is a Professor of International Relations at Griffith University, and Deputy Director (Indo-Pacific research) of the Australian Research Council Centre for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (CEVAW)Asher Flynn is a Professor of Criminology at Monash University, and Deputy Lead (Research & Ethics Training) of the Australian Research Council Centre for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (CEVAW)Jacqui True is a Professor of International Relations at Monash University, and Director of the Australian Research Council Centre for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (CEVAW)***Support Women’s Agenda! We are 100% independent and women-owned. We’re covering the Federal Election from the perspective of what matters to women, and always keeping the issues that matter for women on the daily agenda.

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