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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
Jamieson Murphy

Newcastle MP declares national crisis as six women killed in 12 days

Newcastle MP Sharon Claydon. Picture by Simone De Peak

Less than two weeks ago, Newcastle MP Sharon Claydon made her annual speech to memorialise the names of women killed by acts of violence.

Today, she rose in parliament to add another six women.

"We have a national crisis when it comes to violence against women in Australia," Ms Claydon said.

"Each year I rise in this house to read the names of the women who have been killed by acts of violence. On 14 November, I read the names of 47 women. Today I read six more."

Ms Claydon declared the situation was a national crisis and there must be a fundamental shift in the country's treatment of women, as she moved a motion calling for the elimination of violence against women.

"When more than one woman a week is violently killed, usually by an intimate partner or someone close to them, it is beyond time for a national reckoning," Ms Claydon said.

"I don't want to stand in this parliament each and every year reciting the list of women who have been killed by the most violent means imaginable.

"But I do-and I will continue to-stand here because each and every one of these women needs to be remembered, and their deaths can never be in vain."

One-in-three Australian women experience physical violence perpetrated by a man since the age of 15.

The Albanese has invested $2.3 billion towards several programs in an effort to end violence against women and children by 2032.

Ms Claydon said her government wanted to see the scourge of domestic violence scrubbed from Australia within a generation.

"Australia has never set ourselves an ambition like this before, and it's not going to be easy," she said.

"But we must try because the status quo is absolutely not good enough.

"It's going to take every level of government, businesses, schools, sports clubs, families and neighbourhoods - every part of our community - to work with us."

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