Femicide is not a crime in Australia.
No Australian jurisdiction recognises femicide as a crime, meaning there’s no specific sentencing or other legal responses to gendered violence against women.
Italy’s parliament has just approved a law that introduces the act of femicide as a direct response to the killing of women and girls across that country and subsequent community outrage.
The law means, men who kill women and girls face life in jail. Interestingly, Italy’s femicide toll is similar to Australia’s. Italy recorded 106 femicides in 2024, 62 of these murders were carried out by the partners or former partners of the victims.
In 2024, we lost 105 women to unlawful acts. About 60% of the women were killed by partners, former partners or other family members.
About 95% of all these women were killed by MEN KNOWN TO THEM.
Most femicide perpetrators in Australia will not spend life in prison. On the rare occasion they are convicted of murder, they will serve around 80% of the sentence. Often murder charges are downgraded in return for a guilty plea.
And many femicide perpetrators are not charged with an offence that reflects their actions (for example, men who deliberately murder women using their cars are often charged with dangerous or negligent driving).
Alicia Little’s killer served less than three years; Annette Brennan’s killer will serve seven years; and Rene Latimore’s killer will serve three years. They are femicide victims!
More than 1500 women and girls have been killed across Australia since January 1, 2000. These are the deaths I can officially record across my projects.
I hope to see femicide become a crime before my time on earth runs out. But I suspect it will not happen, because those in power would have to recognise the full extent of our femicide epidemic – and that would mean having very uncomfortable conversations with the men who keep them in power.
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