The Squiz 

As the national conversation about men’s violence against women continues, thousands of people rallied across Oz over the weekend to demand more action from the government. And while that was happening yesterday, a Perth man was charged with murdering 30yo mother of 4 Erica Hay after her body was found on Friday. Police allege 35yo Luke Sekkouah set their house on fire and fled with her 3yo child – who has since been recovered and treated for smoke inhalation. Hay is the 27th Aussie woman murdered by a man this year.

So what is being done?

PM Anthony Albanese has called a National Cabinet meeting on Wednesday to discuss violence against women with state/territory leaders. He attended the “No More” rally in Canberra yesterday and – after being heckled by some attendees – admitted that “governments of all levels must do better, including my own”. Nationals leader David Littleproud also called gender-based violence a “scourge” on society. But while all sides of politics agree more needs to be done, Federal Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth reiterated the government’s position that it won’t establish a royal commission into domestic violence. Instead, she says they will “get on with the job” of implementing the National Plan to End Domestic Violence against women. They’ll review how that’s working on 7 May during an emergency national roundtable called by Domestic Violence Commissioner Micaela Cronin last week.

Anything else?

Yep – yesterday, Albanese also commemorated 28 years since the Port Arthur massacre. To mark the date, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus announced plans for a national firearms register to increase community and police safety. It will see more than $160 million spent over the next 4 years to allow states and territories to share data about firearms and gun owners in near real-time. Gun reform campaigner Walter Mikac – whose wife and 2 daughters were killed in the massacre – called it “bittersweet”, saying it should have been done in 1996 when former PM John Howard introduced the National Firearms Agreement in the immediate aftermath of the attack. While the move can’t come soon enough for campaigners, Coalition spokesperson Dan Tehan says “obviously we’d love it to be in place tomorrow” but bringing together different systems from every state and territory “takes time”.