On average, one woman is killed every nine days by a current or former partner in Australia. Twenty-four women and seven children reportedly have been killed by violence this year, with five deaths occurring since the federal election was announced.

On election day, volunteers in Melbourne repaired the latest desecration of the “She Matters” memorial that honours more than 100 women who were allegedly murdered or died due to violence since January last year. A vandal had spray-painted WAR ON MEN over the women’s names and images.

Despite this appalling scenario, violence against women and children received negligible attention from both major parties during the electoral campaign. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese did not mention it in his victory speech, but a week later thousands of women across Australia marched to demand more government support against gender-based violence.

Labor’s neglect is particularly egregious given Albanese previously called the issue a “ national crisis". Labor’s failure to prioritise this emergency is in stark contrast to the munificent support by the Albanese, Minns and Malinauskas governments for professional men’s sports.

Minns, UFC and the manosphere

After winning the 2023 New South Wales election, Premier Chris Minns fulfilled a campaign pledge by spending $16 million to hold three Ultimate Fighting Championship events in Sydney. UFC is a brutal competition that has been condemned for tolerating fighters who have committed domestic violence.

American president Donald Trump is UFC’s “Combatant-in-Chief”, and its chief executive Dana White is the the key link between the MAGA movement and the “manosphere”. The latter term refers to an assemblage of real-life and virtual communities of men who endorse sexism, misogyny and violence against women. It is a key source for instructing men how to reclaim “ a world where male authority goes unchallenged – a world where women’s roles are subordinate and clearly defined”.

Minns was strongly criticised by various groups about the morality of spending money on the deal. He generally deflected criticism with neoliberal slogans like UFC would generate economic benefits and show the world Sydney was a premier destination for sports events. Minns also reiterated he was a UFC enthusiast, as if his personal views justified the venture.

He insisted UFC was character-building, encouraged healthy lifestyles, and provided positive role models for young men. Sean “Tarzan” Strickland is just one fighter who contradicts this morality tale. He is an ardent Trump supporter who wears a T-shirt with “Cancel Me” on the front. During his visits in 2023 and 2025, Strickland espoused sexist, homophobic and racist views. He said women should stay home and raise a family, Australia was “real fucking Communist”, and restrictions on firearms after the mass shooting at Port Arthur in 1996 were “kind of pathetic”. He also described the 2023 UFC event as “nose to nose, dick to dick”. Minns is purportedly having discussions about extending the event beyond the initial agreement.

Malinauskas, LIV Golf and sportswashing

In November 2022, South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas announced a multi-year agreement to host men-only LIV Golf tournaments in Adelaide. Saudi Arabia has allocated about US$2 billion to this sport, which has lucrative prize money for each competition and nondisclosure contracts reportedly as high as US$300 million for top players

Human rights and sports activist organisations have accused Saudi Arabia of “sportswashing”, a term for individuals and organisations who use sport to divert negative opinions of their practices. Saudi Arabia has been singled out for trying to sportswash multiple human rights violations, including sexual abuse of women political prisoners.

Malinauskas was lambasted for supporting such a controversial event. South Australian Greens leader Tammy Franks said he had legitimised a “nation of bloodshed and lies” and should release details of the commercial-in-confidence deal. Malinauskas used similar diversions to Minns, with his primary response being that the tournaments would be an economic boon and attract people from around the world.

Malinauskas also was an avid backer by posing for photo-ops in a golf buggy and at the “Watering Hole”, where fans “do a shoey” (drink out of footwear) and hurl cans and plastic cups and bottles to celebrate skilful shots.

Policy capture

Although Albanese has consistently pledged to do politics differently, the above developments exemplify “policy capture”, whereby both major parties give preferential treatment to special interest groups. It is an inefficient and inequitable procedure, because it limits the capacity of governments to ensure money is spent on evidence-based policies for the public good.

Albanese used this method to allocate $600 million for the development of rugby league in Pacific island nations. More than half went to the rich and powerful Australian Rugby League Commission to include a men’s club from Papua New Guinea in the National Rugby League. Although a National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children is a step forward, it does not address myriad urgent needs Albanese could have mitigated with the amount he spent on rugby league diplomacy.

Malinauskas refuses to disclose the cost of hosting LIV Golf. Meanwhile, in her submission to a Royal Commission into South Australia’s domestic violence epidemic, the chief executive of Women’s Safety Services said funding was needed for additional staff to respond to the 30% of 35,000 annual calls currently unanswered.

During the 2005 UFC event, nurses and midwives in NSW continued their longstanding campaign against inequitable wages, poor staff ratios, and expensive fees for hospital car parks. The latter problem means they are abused and harassed while walking to and from places where they park their vehicles free.

Minns has repeatedly said the government cannot afford their demands, while White, who oversees a company with an estimated value of US$12 billion and whose personal net worth is more than US$600 million, pocketed $7.7 million from the 2005 UFC event thanks to Minns’ largesse.

Transformative leadership is needed

Men play important roles in preventing gender-based violence at all levels of society. While Minns has used his power to validate an integral component of the manosphere, other men have chosen to become allies of women by encouraging boys and men to prevent gender-based violence in sport. This type of bottom-up leadership and collaborations with activists, unions, athletes’ rights groups is vital for making sport safe and inclusive.

Men in leadership positions have crucial responsibilities by funding preventive policies, condemning abusive behaviour by other men, and showing how to respect women and girls. This requires political leaders who will transform, instead of tinker with, a systemic problem.

The bread and circuses approach of Albanese, Minns and Malinauskas is inimical to transformative action. It is based on evidence-free schemes for men’s sports, provides corporate welfare to wealthy businessmen and, in the case of UFC, endorses regressive forms of masculinity.

Although the Labor leaders mentioned wore Matildas scarves to support the national women’s football team during the 2023 Women’s World Cup, token gestures will not redress ingrained sexism, misogyny and gender-based violence in sport. This will require including sport in all relevant policies for safeguarding women and children

We know from evidence-based research what policies are needed to prevent gender-based violence. With his authority enhanced, a majority government, more women than men in the caucus and a record number of women parliamentarians, Albanese has a historic opportunity to lead transformatively and end this national shame.

The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.