Affluence hides abuse – Chaney (1 Jun 2024)
Kate Chaney was grimly fierce this week, as she condemned the fatal shooting of a mother and her daughter at their home just one street away from her electorate office at Floreat Forum.
"Two more women have lost their lives because of a man with a gun," the Curtin MP said the day after the shooting.
"This is happening all around us.
"I spoke to some women this morning who were saying, it's easy to think that this is something that happens elsewhere.
"I have plenty of women coming in and telling me their stories about experiencing violence.
"It's often hidden in more affluent communities, but it is definitely there."
"Men have to stop killing women," Ms Chaney said on Monday.
"So many women that I've spoken to in my community last night and this morning are feeling exhausted and furious, because more women are dying at the hands of a man.
"It's been a nasty reminder of the prevalence of this issue.
"As a woman, it is really, really sad to still have this fundamental problem in our community that a lot of men think that violence is the way to deal with things."
Ms Chaney was not at her office when the shooting started, but was not far away, and like much of her electorate she was startled by the thudding blades of a helicopter and sirens, sirens, sirens.
"The community is devastated and shocked," she said.
"It's a normally safe community and tight-knit and so many people have a connection either to the family or to the street.
"I'm absolutely heart-broken for the family who have lost their loved ones in this really violent way. "I'm grateful to police and first responders who responded very swiftly."
Ms Chaney said she had spoken to prime minister Anthony Albanese, who sent his condolences to the community.
"We need a sense of urgency on this issue," she said. "I've spoken to so many women who think that the system works against them.
"We need to prioritise the safety of women. "[Mr Albanese] reiterated his commitment to addressing gender violence and I reiterated my need, or my desire, to see more support for frontline services, justice reform, as well as that real long-term cultural change.
"There's this broader underlying issue that men have to stop thinking that violence is a way to solve problems. "That goes to what we're seeing in pornography, and the people like Andrew Tate, who are setting those different expectations for young men.
"It's not just about guns. It's about a systemic change to how we think about violence." She later spoke in Canberra where she said she would be working with Ariel Bombara to understand what changes were needed.
"We definitely need a situation where women are taken seriously when they have a reasonable fear of violence," she said. "That may be partly cultural, it also may be a limitation of the legal system.
"We see it again and again that the system as a whole is not delivering."
Ms Chaney said on Monday that she expected new laws targeting violence against women would be supported Australia-wide.
