2 weeks Ago By Olivia Cleal
In 16 days, 11 women have been killed by violence in Australia. The numbers shine a light on the horrifying reality of violence against women in Australia, a national crisis that kills one woman every four days. In 2023, according to Destroy the Joint’s , 64 women were killed by violence in Australia.
As of today, the number of women killed in 2024 is 62. There are still seven weeks left of the year. Australian Femicide Watch, which takes a different approach to updating its toll and includes Australian women killed overseas, reports 81 women killed by violence this year.
On Sunday, Sherele Moody, founder of the Australian Femicide Watch, reported the death of a woman in Penrith, allegedly at the hands of a man known to her. The woman’s body was in a hotel room at the Pullman Hotel in the western Sydney suburb. The man was also found with cuts to his arm, police say.
He was airlifted to Westmead Hospital in a critical condition. The woman is yet to be identified, as authorities continue to investigate. According to Moody’s Femicide Watch, she is the 81st woman killed in 2024, and the 11th woman killed in the last 16 days.
Of those, three are First Nations women. Mavis Stanley, a 47-year-old , was killed on 29 October outside of Bourke, NSW. Her body, which was unclothed, according to reports, was left on the side of a road.
Stanley’s male partner was arrested by police. Last Friday, three First Nations women were struck by a car in Darwin. Two were killed and another was taken to hospital.
The driver of the vehicle fled the scene. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are disproportionately affected by violence: they are 31 times more likely to be hospitalised with injuries related to family, domestic and/or sexual violence, and are eight times more likely to be killed by an intimate partner, according to statistics collated by . in Australia also experience higher rates of violence: they are twice as likely to have experienced sexual violence over their lifetime than women without disabilities.
According to police, , who lived with serious physical and intellectual disability, suffered “severe and sustained neglect” before she died last month. Reports say she fell in her home in Port Augusta, South Australia, and died from her injuries. Police are investigating her death as a “major crime”, as Fredericks was discovered at a home described as “squalid conditions”.
Police will determine if criminal neglect contributed to her death. Violence against older women is also a serious issue in Australia. Last Friday, , was found dead.
Police arrested a 59-year-old man known to her in relation to her death and is due to appear before the Port Macquarie Local Court today. Also last week, Rosemary Franzidis, a 69-year-old grandmother from Murrumba Downs, Queensland, was killed allegedly by a young man driving a stolen car. This Saturday, a newly formed group called the National Rally Collective will hold vigils across the country, remembering the women killed by violence this year.
The collective includes not-for-profit organisation , founded and run by Sarah Williams. What Were You Wearing organised the earlier this year that the government to declare violence against women a national crisis and unveil a to address it. In September this year, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised a further in funding to help end the “national crisis” of violence against women and children, in a five year plan that includes funding 500 additional frontline family violence workers.
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