5 Australian women were killed in one week. This is why we will never stop talking about it.

Listen to this story being read by Rebecca Davis, here.

This post also deals with extreme domestic abuse and might be triggering for some readers.

Jifeng 'Eileen' Liu.

Lametta Fadlallah. 

Amner 'Amy' al-Hazouri.

Tania Trickey. 

Florrie 'Kory' Reuben.

Five Australian women, each killed in the past week. 

Five Australian women, each killed by violence perpetrated by men. 

This isn't the first time that I or my colleagues have written about female victims of male violence. In fact, it happens all too often - monthly, and sometimes weekly too.

But as I gathered the names of these five women, making sure they were spelt correctly and including the nicknames spoken affectionately by those who knew them well, my heart panged.

Firstly, for them - and their loved ones.

And for the realisation: How many more times will we need to compile such lists?

Five in one week. How many more names?

Because behind each of those names was a life. Big and messy and complicated with love and struggle and joy and sadness and pride. 

And now each of their names is associated with loss - grappled and mourned by those left behind.

Jifeng 'Eileen' Liu, 47, - and her 20-year-old son, Wenhao Du - were found dead surrounded by "large amounts of blood" in their Brisbane home on Monday morning. Police described it as a "frenzied attack" with the weapons alleged to have been a meat cleaver and a long-handled kitchen knife. Liu's partner has since been arrested and charged with two counts of murder.

Lametta Fadlallah, 48, and her hairdresser friend Amner 'Amy' al-Hazouri, 39, were gunned down outside of Fadlallah's home in Panania, Sydney on Saturday night. It is suspected that Fadlallah was targeted due to her connection to figures in Sydney's underworld. 

Tap, tap, tap, tap. That's the stomach-churning final sound that Fadlallah and al-Hazouri would have heard as their killer/s tapped their gun against the car window before unleashing a hail of bullets, reported The Australian, which obtained CCTV footage from a neighbouring property.

Tania Trickey, 44, was killed at Bluewater (near Townsville) some time on Saturday morning. A group of teenagers found her body on a sandy track in bushland as they were riding their quad bikes that afternoon. Trickey's partner has been charged with one count of murder (domestic violence offence) and fronted court today.

Florrie 'Kory' Reuben, 47, was under the protection of a domestic violence order when she was killed in a house fire - believed to be deliberately lit - in the rural Queensland town of Ayr last Tuesday morning. Reuben's death is being treated as a homicide. Police attended her home for a welfare check just a few hours prior to the blaze, and are speaking to Reuben's partner who was also injured in the fire.  

These women didn't deserve this fate. No woman does. 

And we shouldn't have to write this article.

We should be writing about the triumphs or adversities of Eileen, Lametta, Amy, Tania and Kory - the things that made their stories theirs. 

It should be an article about how Amy was the sole financial provider for her family who are struggling through the economic crisis in Lebanon. Or Kory's reflections of having just recently become a grandmother for the first time. 

Instead, we've had to skip to the end, and write this story. 

Because if we don't; if we don't remember them, what happens then? Will their names be forgotten as the news cycle moves on to the next headline, the next political scandal, the next morsel of celebrity gossip? 

We will not stop honouring these women - or any woman who has been killed as a result of violence. 

And we won't stop talking about it either. Because as a society, we should never have gotten here.

Every morning, I receive a daily report from Melbourne's County Court, detailing the criminal charges of accused persons that are due to appear that day. 

Every day I see a litany of charges of rape, sexual assault, incest and indecent assault against children aged under 16. 

I see multiple charges against those who have breached a family violence safety notice or a family violence intervention order.

In almost every single instance, the accused is a man. Often, he is a repeat offender.

Australia, we have a big problem.

I recently spent time at the Men's Referral Service (MRS) call centre, and a comment from MRS's No to Violence CEO Jacqui Watt has stayed with me since: 

“Family and domestic violence is everyone’s problem. But it begins - and ends - with men”.

And while Commissions and funding pledges are wonderful and much-needed, the change towards a safer society for women must be a whole of system and whole of community approach.

Change. Action. 

And it is not happening fast enough. 

Because we are not willing to accept a reality where we need to write these stories.

Where the killing of five women in one week is ever considered normal. 

Or even the killing of one woman.

And in the meantime, we will continue talking loudly too. 

Feature Image: (Clockwise from left) Lametta Fadlallah, Amner 'Amy' al-Hazouri, Florrie 'Kory' Reuben, Jifeng 'Eileen' Liu and Tania Trickey. Supplied/Mamamia.