Australia has a long way to go in tackling family and domestic violence, the prime minister concedes, as the nation reels from a shocking spate of deaths.
Children aged six, two and five months were killed in a fire at their western Sydney home on Sunday after their 28-year-old father allegedly frustrated attempts to rescue them.
A day later, a woman was fatally stabbed in an alleged domestic violence-related murder in western Sydney.
On Tuesday, a 45-year-old man was arrested after a woman's body was found at a tip in Melbourne's north last week.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said work was being done to address the scourge.
"Yet as the tragic events of recent days have reminded us, we have a long way to go," he said in a statement.
"Again, we have seen lives stolen, futures torn away. Every death is its own universe of devastation.
"Communities are hurt and the families and loved ones left behind carry the sorrow with them for the rest of their days."
Mr Albanese said the nation could not turn away from the issue, and his government was determined to put an end to the violence.
The government on Tuesday said it would fund projects to provide 720 safe places over the next three years, almost doubling the number of emergency accommodation places already offered under their program.
This will focus on improving access and inclusion for Indigenous women and children, people with disabilities and others facing barriers.
But the opposition and the Greens said the federal government wasn't doing enough.
Greens senator Larissa Waters said it was "a drop in a large ocean of need" that will accommodate at most a mere three per cent of women and children seeking housing.
"Waiting three years until 2027 for these facilities to be built is cold comfort to women and children being killed by family and domestic violence now."
The federal government has offered $5000 in financial support for women escaping violent relationships, as part of a package worth almost $1 billion in its 2024 budget.
Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie said frontline services still needed more funding.
"We needed this a year ago," she told Nine's Today show.
"The government said we would have 500 frontline workers in place last June, and here we are, we haven't even got a quarter of them.
"Cultural change takes a very long time and that's why we need these services on the ground in our suburbs and regional centres now."
The Australian Bureau of Statistics has found one-in-five Australians have experienced partner violence or abuse since the age of 15.
Between 2022 and 2023, the Australian Institute of Criminology recorded a 28 per cent rise in the number of women killed by an intimate partner compared to the previous year.
The federal government's commitments are part of a national plan aimed at ending violence against women and children over the next decade.
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