Harsh sentences alone won't end the violence against women

This perfectly highlights the hypocrisy of "women's" issues. Although, sadly women have known this, thought this and been making these comparisons for years, for decades and probably centuries.

What's caused this latest shift in society? Why do we now finally care enough about women for this to be, momentarily, front page news? Why have the hundreds of other violent deaths not been enough? While I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth, if it means social change, I'm sceptical that the men in power (yes, we still live in a patriarchy) really understand this change needs more than harsher sentencing and a few extra lines in a high school textbook.

DOMESTIC violence against women is once more causing concern, and rightfully so, but what about violence against men?

I understand that up to 30 per cent of domestic violence goes unreported because it's against men, by both men and women in a relationship, often against older and defenceless men.

Then there is the violence against children, which is usually hidden if evidence is not apparent.

I suggest we stop this gender selection and say all forms of violence, especially domestic violence, cannot and will not be tolerated.

Of course, nothing much will change because politically it's a hot potato, but hopefully men women and children, suffering in silence, victims of domestic violence, will have the ability to say what about me and have a recognised safe place to go. Then maybe, just maybe, the right people will actually listen.

A while back, a neighbourhood watch program was established for such a purpose with safe houses displaying an official sign on the front of the house. I don't know why this was discontinued, but maybe this could be the starting point.

Ankle bracelets are used to keep track of those who are required to wear them. Why could not a similar system be used to track those who are deemed to be domestic violence (DV) perpetrators?

Instead of an ankle device, have a wrist band similar to a medical alert unit. A person who has/is accused of a DV issue could be issued with one which could alert the wearer of the location of the person of interest. Action could be taken by the wearer as to what to do; ring police, move to a safer location, lock the house, set off an external audible mounted device (in an inaccessible location which could alert the neighbourhood).

There are numerous people who could write the program. If a system like this was adopted by the federal and state governments at very affordable cost and saves one life it would be worth every cent. Governments can readily find funds for other projects they should be able to cough up.

PERHAPS your correspondent is right ("Graphic content may sway some", Letters, 25/4), and graphic footage of the October 7 attack on innocent Israeli civilians by Hamas militants should be shown. It would certainly help people understand why Israel immediately responded as it did.

But now, more than seven months on and with no let-up in the relentless Israeli attack on innocent Palestinian civilians, their homes, their schools, their hospitals, in fact all of the infrastructure that their very survival depends on, perhaps we should also see the mangled bodies of the thousands of babies and children who have been killed by Israeli bombs and gunfire too.

This would need to be accompanied, of course, with footage of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or his military chief explaining why it was necessary to murder these babies and children, and 20,000 other innocent civilians, as well as medical and aid workers, in the hope that they would also kill some Hamas militants).

This might change some people's opinion of whether the continuation of this war in its present indiscriminate and arguably genocidal form can possibly be justified.