Women’s Minister Katy Gallagher admits the government needs to keep an open mind on new areas of support and prevention to deal with domestic violence against women.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will meet with state and territory leaders on Wednesday at a national cabinet meeting to address the issue.

It comes after mass marches were held nationwide over the weekend as demonstrators called on governments to do more.

Senator Gallagher said while the government had a 10-year plan to address rates of violence against women, more needed to be done.

“I don’t think there’s any shortage of resources and commitment going into this,” she said.

“But I think we always need to look at whether things are working, whether we need to shift focus or look at new ways, particularly in the area of prevention, about how we provide support and service.

“From our point of view, we have an open mind.”

In total, 17 rallies were held across Australia at the weekend including an estimated 15,000 people demonstrating in Melbourne, about 10,000 in Sydney and thousands more in Brisbane.

Senator Gallagher joined the prime minister and Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth at a rally in Canberra alongside thousands of demonstrators.

But the prime minister and cabinet ministers received a hostile reception, with the crowd yelling “we want action”, “do your job” and “what are you even doing here?” after they failed to declare a national emergency to tackle the problem.

Albanese rebutted by telling the impassioned crowd that governments at all levels needed to do better, including his own.

“We need to change the culture, we need to change attitudes – we need to change the legal system,” he said at the rally.

“It’s not enough to support victims.

“We need to focus on the perpetrators and focus on prevention.

“I know we must do better, but I know this as well… it’s not just government’s problem – it’s a problem of our entire society.”

At least 27 women have allegedly died by male violence so far in 2024, according to Destroy the Joint.

Senator Gallagher said more still needed to be done.

“People are wanting to see change happen faster than it’s been, and I think we all feel that,” she said.

“But we’ve also got to acknowledge that this is a very deeply embedded cultural problem in our community, and it isn’t one that one government or eight governments can solve. It’s a whole or community problem.”

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said it was not surprising there were large levels of community anger.

“We need to look at what government’s doing, what police are doing, what courts are doing, what emergency services are doing,” she told Seven’s Sunrise program.

“But we need to look at what is happening, particularly young men online, that is supporting these misogynist attitudes.”

1800RESPECT (1800 737 732)
Lifeline 13 11 14

– AAP