A rally was held on Saturday in Melbourne to call for an end to violence against women in the wake of the murder of Greek Australian Courtney (Konstandina) Herron in May.
Around 50 protesters gathered at the State Library at noon and marched to Victoria’s Parliament House where they stood for two hours.
Organiser Belle Lim said that many people don’t recognise the link between the horrendous murder with “wider systematic sexism” and she called on the government to take strong action against violence, especially in light of the fact that Herron was the fourth woman to be killed in a public place in the city in the past 12 months.
A petition circulated for the federal government to increase funding for the support of sexual assault victims, and for the state government to implement improvements to the criminal justice system.
READ MORE: Justice for Courtney Herron and more: Rally to end violence against women
The petition is currently online. ChangemakHER, the organisers, state:
“The Morrison Government declared domestic violence to be a national issue in Australia. Prime Minister Scott Morrison in March 2019 as well as Premier Daniel Andrews and Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius after the murder of Courtney Herron, have also recognized the link between a culture of disrespect towards women and violence against women. While we welcome the increase in funding towards programs that allow significant longer-term generational cultural change such as White Ribbon and Our Watch, we are concerned about the gap in service for women who have already, are, and will experience violence.”