Two women and two girls have been allegedly murdered in four days in Australia, sparking renewed calls for action on domestic and family violence. The deaths of Lavanya Chappa, Jana Armstrong, Layla Jeffery (13), and a 17-year-old Yolngu girl have been described as another crisis point.
Experts Highlight Implementation Gap
Katherine Berney, a policy expert on gender-based violence, stated: “We already have more than 1,000 recommendations. The knowledge gap isn’t there. There’s an implementation gap.” This echoes frustrations among experts who note a cycle of outrage following tragedies, with governments failing to enact lasting reforms.
In 2024, researchers reviewed recommendations from Queensland and New South Wales death reviews and found that only 16% had been properly enacted over more than a decade. Dr Emma Buxton-Namisnyk, co-author of the study and senior lecturer at the University of New South Wales, questioned whether government responses are “performative,” aimed at managing public concern rather than effecting real change.
Systemic Failures in Queensland
In Queensland, the alleged murder of Jana Armstrong in Toowoomba follows significant cuts to domestic violence funding and resources. Queensland police have scrapped a specialist domestic and family violence command and deemed domestic violence case management not “core business.” Key recommendations from an inquiry into police responses have not been enacted, and public reporting has ceased.
Retired judge Margaret McMurdo, who chaired a state taskforce on women’s safety, told the Brisbane Times that the government “seems to have abandoned” critical parts of the taskforce’s recommendations. “Meanwhile, our mothers, daughters, sisters and granddaughters continue to die from this continuing scourge of domestic and family violence,” she said.
Death Review System Under Scrutiny
Guardian Australia revealed last year that the Queensland domestic and family violence death review advisory board quietly stopped reviewing all cases. Former member Betty Taylor said the review had stopped centring women’s experiences. “We’ve got to listen to dead women,” Taylor said.
Berney noted that while all states and territories have signed on to a national plan, commitments have not been met. There is nationally inconsistent data reporting, no government-backed homicide database, and no ongoing monitoring of progress. “We can’t keep saying the same things. It’s utterly, utterly horrific… But if we only ever do crisis response, we only ever get crisis,” she said.
Support services are available: in Australia, Full Stop Australia on 1800 385 578; in the UK, national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247; in the US, domestic violence hotline 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).
