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

We're just one month into 2026 and already six women have been killed by men's violence.

The murder of pregnant First Nations woman Sophie Quinn, her new partner, and her aunt, Nerida Quinn, shocked us all.

Two women had already been killed before those deaths. One is still unnamed, and the other was Velvet Pesu, a Queensland performing artist and social worker. She was a well-known and much-loved Queenslander whom I'd had the privilege of meeting. Velvet had a huge heart and was incredibly generous. She was always helping people and touched everyone's soul with deep understanding, kindness and love. She is deeply missed.

Two more as-yet-unnamed women have been killed by men they knew since then. Last year, the organisation Counting Dead Women recorded at least 52 women killed by violence. The system is failing women and children. Sophie Quinn's alleged murderer had six separate AVOs in the past 10 years and was on bail for DV offences when Sophie and her unborn child were killed. The number of missed opportunities to intervene and save lives is staggering. It is a national crisis and a national shame, yet frontline services remain grossly underfunded and are forced to turn too many women away. The Queensland Police Service just announced cuts to their dedicated family and domestic violence service. Housing shortages mean women face homelessness if they leave, so the cycle continues.

There have been countless inquiries and hundreds of recommendations. We know what needs to change, and it must start with fully funding the frontline. Long-term prevention and behaviour change is critical work, but we must also ensure that services responding to immediate risks have the funding they need, and we must fund recovery programs for victim-survivors. The government needs to make women's safety a priority. (Time expired)