By Lewis Jackson
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia will spend almost A$1 billion on payments for those fleeing domestic violence and introduce new measures to police pornography and violence online in response to what the government calls a “national crisis.” referred to as gender-based violence.
Thousands took to the streets on Saturday to protest violence against women, which the government says has killed one woman every four days this year. In April, five women were killed in a mass stabbing. That same month, a high-profile libel case concluded that a rape had occurred in Parliament.
The Prime Minister spoke after an emergency meeting of state and federal leaders to address the issue Anthony Albanese announced 925.2 million Australian dollars (US$600 million) to make permanent a financial support program for those escaping domestic violence.
“Today is about who we are as a nation and as a society,” he said. “This is a problem for all of society, not just governments. It’s a problem for civil society, it’s a problem for the media, it’s a problem for all of us.”
Australia will also introduce legislation to ban the creation and non-consensual distribution of deepfake pornography, where people digitally transform pornographic images into the likeness of another person.
In the year ended June 30, 34 women were killed by an intimate partner in Australia, a 28% increase from the previous year, although the total number of homicides increased only 4%.
Albanese attacked the opinions of “toxic male extremists” online and also announced a series of measures to police online porn and promote healthier attitudes towards women.
The $6.5 million AA pilot will test ways to prevent children from accessing inappropriate content online. The findings will feed into new rules for internet companies being developed by the online security regulator.
But a sign of how difficult implementation is likely to be is that the e-safety commissioner is already embroiled in a court battle to get social media platform X to remove posts showing how a Australian bishop is stabbed during a sermon. Owner Elon Musk has vowed to take action against the move, which he described as censorship.
Albanese said his government had not underestimated how difficult policing content online would be, but “online players need to fully understand the consequences of free internet for all.”
($1 = 1.5456 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Lewis Jackson; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)