Last weekend the Zonta Golden Z Club at Griffith University, Gold Coast set up a black shoe display at the Runaway Bay Shopping Centre. At that display there were 31 pairs of black shoes, with each pair representing a woman who died between 1 January and 31 May this year from gender-based violence. I thank the Zonta Club for what they do to support and advocate on behalf of women. I congratulate them on putting up a very evoking memorial to the 31 women who had lost their lives, which demonstrated to our local community and to so many women who stopped by that we need to highlight the impact of gender based violence and we need to always remember those 31 women who lost their lives during that period, plus the many other women who have lost their lives.
The United Nations defines violence against women as: any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.
The statistics are very sobering. Two in five women have experienced violence since the age of 15, and, on average, every nine days one woman is killed by a current or former partner. We must do better.