I’m sure you all saw it on the TV this last weekend – all 17 of the “What Were You Wearing” rallies in cities and towns across Australia. The rallies were protesting against the continuing violence against women and, in particular, the murders of women by men. Twenty-seven women have been killed by men so far this year (at time of writing), a 30% increase over 2023 stats. This is evil and chilling.
But this is no sudden thing. It has been coming for a long time. According to the latest report from the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) there were 247 homicide victims in the 2022-23 financial year, up from 234 in 2021-22. Of those, 75 were women, and 34 — or 49% — of these were killed by a current or former intimate partner. All of those current or former partners were male. The AIC found that the rate of intimate partner homicide (IPH) involving a female victim increased by 28% between 2021-22 and 2022-23. So far this year, and we’re only in May, the new percentage increase is already at 30%. Other data shows almost half the women who were victims of a homicide in the last financial year were killed by a former or current intimate partner – half.
The violence has been steadily rising.
There is no doubt that men are responsible for the vast amount of violence and murder perpetrated on women, and in general. This is indisputable. It’s evil. It must stop.
Thousands took to the streets on the weekend including our State Premier and our Prime Minister – both shouting slogans demanding change. In fact, quoted in The Guardian, the PM (who was protesting at the “No More” rally in Canberra) said, “We need to change the legal system. We’re here today to demand that governments of all levels must do better, ...” And this, “Society and Australia must do better. We need to change the culture and we need to change attitudes. We need to change the legal system.”
So there you have it. The PM protesting in the streets for legislative changes to combat violence against women. Did this not strike him as very odd? The PM protesting for new laws? He is, after all, the PM (as he tersely reminded a rally organiser) and his government has been in power for almost all the period of time the most recent statistics have been compiled. Nevertheless, I agree with him that the culture needs to change. Unless culture changes, attitudes and behaviours never will, regardless of legislation however punitive. The culture needs to change, yes, but in what ways? This is the critical issue needing to be addressed otherwise all the behavioural programs and all the new laws simply paper over what lurks beneath the surface. But I fear we, as a nation, will not want to go there.
I am convinced that our culture has become diseased over the decades by an increasing disrespect for the value and sanctity of human life – the most singularly fundamental value at the core of family and community. We introduced laws in the 1970s for “no fault” divorce, and commitment to marriage for life and family to work through issues and so on, was dramatically weakened. We have introduced abortion laws giving women the right to kill an unborn child for ANY reason, and now, in each state jurisdiction, abortion on demand is permitted right up until birth. (Yes, there are some genuine reasons for an abortion). Next we introduced “dying with dignity” laws, (read euthanasia laws) where people can end their lives, and where worrying evidence has emerged of sick elderly people being subtly coerced into euthanasia so as not to be “a burden” on family. Now, (take a breath), add to all that the rapid expansion of a new tribalism phenomenon in our country where brutal identity politics and hate agendas abound. So many different tribal groups now hate-speech one other without batting an eye. We now have violence in the classrooms against teachers from Primary School kids. We now have defiant pro-Palestine teachers encouraging Primary and Secondary School kids to chant aggressively (intifada violence using a loud hailer) against Israel and Jews, on the campus of Sydney University just this last weekend. They were encouraged on by a senior university academic. This was allegedly, “an excursion”. Then there’s the proliferation of violent video games over decades … and there is so much more. A whole new environment has been formed.
We’ve come a long way in such a short time, haven’t we?
We have been on a committed journey of cheapening and devaluing human life for decades in many ways. Add to all that the increasing weaponisation of social media to attack others and ruin reputations, or cancel people because we just don’t like them, or disagree with them, or they’re in the wrong tribe, under cover of relative anonymity. Our culture has seen a massive erosion of the core value of the sanctity of all human life. It began with the birth of an arrogant, selfish, my-rights-over-yours individualism which cannot respect others. This has continued with the steady devaluation of family and of unborn children, and we’ve been on a slippery slope ever since. Few can see the sheer scale of it. We care less and less for each other. But no one wants to admit the failure of all these social experiments – our rights are sacrosanct.
Back on December 6th, 1983 (well before we got to where we are today), then Catholic Archbishop of Chicago, Joseph Bernardin, said this during his Gannon Address at Fordham University:
“We now threaten life on a scale previously unimaginable. … From the inception of life to its decline, a rapidly expanding technology opens new opportunities for care, but also poses new potential to threaten the sanctity of life.”
That was in 1983. It was prophetic. And, we didn’t listen.
A sanctity of all life core value “from womb to tomb” (Bernadin) is fast disappearing from our culture. How life is valued is increasingly selective and conditional. Legislation cannot bring it back. Punishing offenders alone will not bring it back. Only a deep, sorrowing repentance will, and a recovery of deep respect for everyone, and a revaluing of marriage, family and the sanctity of ALL human life throughout ALL its sacred phases.
None of these underlying, and momentous, societal changes excuse men (or anyone) for their violence. Not ever. It is always repugnant and totally unacceptable. But we did not get here because of violent men. It is just as much about what we as a society truly value – and the proof is there as we have made many life-devaluing choices and made them law. It has trickled down over years and has seeped into our culture across the board. We actually value life less and less. The first soft victims were tossed aside, unable to draw their first breath let alone utter their first word of protest; and the children so often discarded by parents who didn’t want to stay married, were traumatised and many are now so angry. Now, more and more, women are the next soft victims, and we must stand up against it, not just in street march protests, with grandstanding politicians, but with a resolute refusal by all of us to accept anything less than absolute respect of ALL human beings – children, women, men, young and old, Jew or Gentile – in thought, word and deed and without exception. There can be no compromise and no exceptions. Mutual, genuine respect must be recovered in our culture. Jesus gave us a pretty big clue as to how such devastating societal decline occurs. It begins with disrespect.
Matthew 5:22 (NIV) “But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, 'Raca,' is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.”
And it ends in murder …
1 John 3:15 (NIV) “Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, …”
There is no easy fix for the malaise of our culture. But it can start with you and me calling out any kind of disrespect – to anyone - and acting respectfully towards others, especially when we may not share their views or life choices. All human life is sacred, each wears the image of God …
1 Peter 2:17 (NIV) “Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honour the emperor.”
Think on these things.
Ps Milton
[Sources: Guardian Newspaper, April 29th, 2024; ABC News, April 30th, 2024; The Australian Institute of Criminology website; Q&A FACTSHEET “LATE-TERM ABORTION IN AUSTRALIA” authored by Associate Professor Joanna Howe & Dr Debbie Garratt; ]