The main reason Australian women are being killed in record numbers - and what needs to be done to stop the horror inside homes

The reason why women in Australia are allegedly being killed by their partners in record numbers has been revealed amid a domestic violence crisis. 

Twenty-six women have been allegedly killed in Australia at the hands of their partners or former partners so far this year, 12 more than this time last year. 

The body of teaching assistant Molly Ticehurst, 28, was found inside a home in Forbes, 370km west of Sydney, just before 2am on Monday. 

Daniel Billings, 29, has been charged her murder with court documents revealing he was on bail at the time for stalking, sexual assault and harassment charges. 

Just 36 hours later the body of Emma Bates, 49, was found in her home at Cobram on the Victorian-NSW border. 

Her next-door neighbour John Torney faced court on Friday facing assault charges over her death.

Elise Phillips, the deputy CEO of Domestic Violence NSW, said gender inequality was driving a crisis of male violence in Australia. 

'It's when we turned a blind eye when we see disrespectful behaviours, it's when we make excuses for violence,' she told Daily Mail Australia. 

'It's also the inequity we see in relation to pay and the roles that we play in our families, how we divide up care of children and looking after the home. 

'It's ensuring that we have equity, representation and equal numbers of women in parliament and as the CEOs and leaders of companies in the private sector.'

Ms Phillips said the deaths of the 26 women had all been preventable. 

'We often feel hopeless and helpless when we as individuals are seeing stories of these horrific murders,' she said. 

'But each of us can take play an active role in reducing violence and taking a stand against violence.  

'We need everyone to make this an election issue, to let their local MPs know that their community care about this issue and to demand that they do more.

'And if they don't, they actually risk losing their seat in parliament because we're not going to stand for this anymore.'

Ms Phillips said social media figures including Andrew Tate, a self-described misogynist, were only reinforcing attitudes already felt by some men. 

'We know that social media provided a new platform for promoting those types of gender stereotypes and misogynistic attitudes,' she said.

'But those attitudes were already present in some parts of the community.'

Cost-of-living pressures also played a role in exacerbating violence against women.

'We know there are some factors that exacerbate violence like stress, including financial stress, but also issues like drug and alcohol use,' she said.

Many people experienced domestic violence for the first time during the pandemic, she said.  

'We saw people who were already experiencing domestic and family violence note an increase in the severity, the frequency and the complexity of what they were dealing with,' she said. 

Ms Phillips said the domestic and family violence sector is 'extremely' underfunded with Domestic Violence NSW calling for a 20 per cent increase to funding.

'That's a minimum of $145million a year that's required just to be able to have a hope of meeting the current demand,' she said. 

'We're also asking for $100million over four years in NSW for primary prevention. We are suggesting that $40million be spent in the next year and $20million each year for the three years following to invest in prevention initiatives in NSW. 

'We want to see community grassroots initiatives that combat the types of misogynistic gender stereotypes and attitudes that we see.'

She said it was time for politicians to stop talking about the problem and invest. 

'The only way that we're going to shift the dial on this is if governments stop talking about how much of a problem this is and actually invest in a way that is committed to the scale of the problem,' she said. 

A pledge to end family and domestic violence in Australia can be signed here. 

If you or someone you know is experiencing family violence, phone 1800 RESPECT or the Crisis Care Helpline on 1800 199 008.