Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has told attendees at a march against domestic violence his government "must do better", adding violence is "a problem of our entire society" and it requires men to change their behaviour.
Late on Sunday afternoon, Mr Albanese joined the Canberra edition of a series of walks around the country demanding an end to gender-based violence, walking with Minister for Finance and Women Katy Gallagher and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth.
The PM had not planned to speak at the event, but stood up to do so after an event organiser pointed him out in the crowd and asked him to commit to specific policy actions, including issuing a legal declaration that family violence is a national emergency.
Mr Albanese told the crowd the national emergency declaration was a short-term legal avenue intended for use in natural disasters, but said family violence was a "national crisis".
"We need to change the culture. We need to change attitudes. We need to change the legal system. We need to change the approach by all governments, because it's not enough to support victims. We need to focus on the perpetrators and focus on prevention," he said.
Some crowd members heckled the prime minister before and during his speech, but the crowd loudly applauded when he said it was "up to men" to change their behaviour and stated perpetrators should be "held accountable".
Told by one crowd member he needed to do more, he responded: "I know, I know. That's why I'm here.
"I know that we all must do better. But I know this as well — that I've got to be honest. It's not just government's problem. It's a problem of our entire society."
Mr Albanese confirmed he had convened a meeting of state and territory leaders in a national cabinet on Wednesday to discuss further actions.
The rallies coincided with police charging a Perth man with the murder of his partner — the 27th time a man has been charged in relation to the death of a woman in Australia this year.
Governments to stick to national plan
Earlier in the day, Ms Rishworth said the national domestic violence plan agreed by national cabinet in 2022 needed more time before its effects would be seen.
Ms Rishworth and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus have both said the government does not plan to set up a Royal Commission.
Instead, Ms Rishworth said, the government believed it needed to "get on with the job" of implementing the national plan to end violence against women, agreed by national cabinet in 2022.
That plan aspires to eradicate violence "within a generation", and will be used as a framework to guide government actions at all levels until 2032.
"We need to actually just start delivering," Ms Rishworth said.
"[It] is less than two years old … We need to have this consistent effort."
Four areas of focus identified
The plan identifies four areas of focus: prevention, early intervention, response, and recovery and healing. Governments at all levels have started funding initiatives.
"Some of that work, while it's urgent to invest, the results will take some time to see the change we need to turn things around," Ms Rishworth said.
"Importantly, it was informed by victim-survivors and other experts."
But the Coalition has been critical of the slow rollout of one of the early measures taken by the Albanese government— funding for 500 frontline domestic violence workers.
In March, a Senate committee heard only two workers had been appointed despite funding being provided in October 2022.
"We've all had enough, enough of the big money announcements. We need money on the ground," Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie said on Sunday.
Ms Rishworth said the money had been provided to states and territories, which were "recruiting as we speak".
"That funding is in the budget, [but] we are not as the Commonwealth responsible for frontline workers … I expect we will meet our targets," she said.
Senator McKenzie and other senior Coalition figures have not directly called for a royal commission, but Senator McKenzie criticised the government for being "big on royal commissions in opposition [but] now refusing one".
Independent MP Dai Le told the ABC's Insiders she did not support a royal commission.
"I don't know if another royal commission will actually do any good … Target the funding to communities experiencing high domestic violence [rates instead]," she said.
Ms Le also suggested language about domestic violence could "alienate one group from another … Not all men are violent, but the way we're portraying it is that men are violent against women," she said.
Ms Rishworth and Senator McKenzie both identified a need to tackle men's attitudes.
"Too often we frame this problem as a women's problem, [as if] women need to fix this, but really this is a men's violence problem," Ms Rishworth said.
"For an individual to call out violent behaviour if they see it, to call out disrespectful attitudes to women, this is at the heart of what is being called for," she said.
Senator McKenzie said Australians needed to ensure "our young men… display their masculinity in powerful but respectful ways".
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