Celebrities including Abbie Chatfield are among thousands of protesters who are marching in rallies across the country to demand action on violence against women.
‘No More: National Rally Against Gender Based Violence’ protests took place in Sydney, Hobart and Adelaide on Saturday afternoon and 12 more are set to go ahead in other capital cities and regional towns on Sunday.
This month alone there has been a wave of women killed allegedly at the hands of men including Molly Ticehurst, 28, Emma Bates, 49, and the appalling Bondi Junction stabbing attack which claimed the lives of five women.
Chatfield, who is a vocal advocate of women’s rights, attended the Sydney rally with friends Kath Ebbs and one-half of Peking Duk duo Adam Hyde.
‘No More: National Rally Against Gender Based Violence’ protests took place in Sydney, Hobart and Adelaide on Saturday afternoon and another 12 are set to go ahead in other capital cities and regional towns on Sunday
The event is Sydney (pictured) is one of 17 rallies being held across Australia to protest against gender based violence
The rallies, organised by advocacy group What Were You Wearing also took place in Newcastle and Ballarat
Large crowds of protesters in Sydney arrived at Belmore Park at about 1pm on Saturday afternoon and marched towards Hyde Park.
They held signs reading ‘sick of inaction’, ‘tax the billionaires, fund sexual violence response and prevention’, ‘how many of us have to die?’ and ‘it’s not all men but it’s always men’.
Chatfield shared a series of snaps to her Instagram story of the powerfully-worded posters carried by rally attendees.
‘Dear not all men … Where the bloody hell are you?’ one poster read.
A large crowd has gathered in Sydney to protest against gender based violence
Chatfield, an advocate for women’s rights, attended the rally with friends Kath Ebbs and one-half of Peking Duk duo Adam Hyde as the crowd held placards
Other placards demanded concrete government action to counter violence against women
The rallies, organised by advocacy group What Were You Wearing, also took place in Newcastle and Ballarat on Friday.
More are scheduled to take place in Melbourne, Perth, Bendigo, the Sunshine Coast, Geelong, Brisbane, Coffs Harbour, Canberra, Gold Coast, Orange, Wagga Wagga and Cobram on Sunday.
The back-to-back tragedies this month have reignited calls for greater action to be taken to combat violence against women, with the NSW government announcing a review of the state’s bail system in light of Ms Ticehurst’s death.
Her accused killer had been let out on bail two weeks before he allegedly attacked her.
Critics say the review will take months to complete and urgent changes need to be made now to save women’s lives. And their argument is backed by statistics.
On average, a woman is killed every nine days by a current or former partner – but 2024 has so far signalled an alarming upwards trend.
