People wearing masks walk on a street decorated with flowers in Sydney, Australia, Oct 12, 2020. (PHOTO / XINHUA)
CANBERRA - The Australian government has revealed a plan to reduce the number of women killed by their partners by one quarter every year.
Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth on Wednesday launched the first five-year action plan to achieve the government's goal of ending gender-based violence within a generation.
According to Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) data, 25 Australian women were killed by a current or former partner in the 12 months to July 2021.
One in four Australian women have experienced violence from an intimate partner since turning 15.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women experience disproportionately higher rates of violence than non-Indigenous women
The new plan sets targets to end violence for the first time, including a 25 percent annual reduction in the female victims of intimate partner homicide, with AIC data used as a baseline to track progress.
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"No woman or child should live in fear from violence. No woman or child should have their lives terrorized by someone who professed to love and care for them. No woman or child should have their lives ended prematurely due to that violence," Rishworth said in a statement.
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The federal government also announced the establishment of a peak body for Indigenous family safety and a separate three-year action plan.
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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women experience disproportionately higher rates of violence than non-Indigenous women.
The federal budget for the financial years 2022/23 and 2023/24 included 2.3 billion Australian dollars ($1.4 billion) in funding to deliver the action plans.