I began writing the article you’re now holding in March 2025. Since then, I have had to update the statistics of lives lost to femicide in 2025 almost every time I have reopened this document. The issue of femicide in Australia is not a case of a few bad eggs. It’s the result of systemic failures and a lack of accountability from the very institutions that are supposed to protect women and educate young men.
On 13 March 2025, Netflix released its hit series Adolescence, which follows the story of a 13-year-old boy, Jamie Miller, who murders his fellow female classmate, Katie Leonard. During its airtime, the series explored themes of misogyny, male rage, and toxic masculinity.
As a Media Arts and Production student here at UTS, I too was captivated by the show’s visual language and its ambitious single-shot format. But as a woman, I am horrified by the public’s response. Much of the discourse has centred on Jamie’s defence, with lines like “but he was bullied by her”, speaking exactly to the purpose of the series–you are not entitled to her life because you had a small blow to your ego.
While Adolescence is set in Britain, Australia endures the same pressing issue.
At the time this article was sent to Vertigo, 36 Australian women had already lost their lives to gender-based violence in 2025. I genuinely hope that by the time you're reading this (after it's been edited, designed, approved by the UTSSA, sent to print, and finally reached your hands) that number hasn’t changed. But for this writer's peace of mind, could you check it for me, please?
Adolescence underscores the critical role educational institutions play in addressing this ongoing crisis. Which provokes the question: In the Age of Adolescence, what is UTS as an institution doing to help bring a stop to femicide in Australia?
It is important to note that UTS approaches the prevention and response to gender-based violence separately as per the Sexual Harm Prevention and Response Policy, which was first approved in December 2022, and most recently amended in September 2024.
Prevention is overseen by Respect.Now.Always (RNA), UTS’s resident sexual violence prevention team and Steering Committee, established by the Provost in 2017 under the framework of the aforementioned policy. RNA is a mechanism for collaboration between the student body and the university, ensuring continuous growth for internal policies regarding the subject.
You, however, may know them as the stall at O’day that gives out ice cream and condoms.
As a frequent volunteer, I have worked closely with the organisation and seen firsthand how it educates and empowers both the student body and faculty. Catharine Pruscino spearheaded the program in 2017, laying the foundation for the RNA that UTS knows today. At its conception, RNA was a radical response to the 2016 Change The Course: National Report on Sexual Assault and Harassment. I use the term “radical” as it was specifically designed to cater to the UTS student experience, taking into account the student voice, an uncommon notion at the time. I will note here that every tertiary-level institution was required to respond to the report and was responsible for how it was handled.
Response for the student body is provided by Student Services, UTS Counselling, two safety case workers, and the Government Support Unit.
In an interview with a victim-survivor who followed the proper channels for incident reporting at UTS, she stated that if she were to make a recommendation to a student who was in her position, it would be to “get a lawyer”. She also noted that UTS's response services have had repeat incidents where victim-survivors have been left in the dark regarding their cases, and have either relied on social capital for their voices to be heard or have fallen through the cracks.
It is encouraging to see that in recent years, the UTSSA has fought for and successfully campaigned for the introduction of “safety caseworkers” into the Student Services Unit. These are professionals who were intended to support, assist and help navigate students through the process of reporting gender based violence and sexual assault on campus, taking a case-by-case approach and maintaining confidentiality. Currently, there are two staff members in this role. Despite arguably improving the ‘trauma-informed’ capacity of the university to respond to sensitive matters, students have raised questions of whether these positions materially improve the navigation of the reporting process, or whether they simply act as glorified counsellors, rather than advocates for victim-survivors. However, what remains clear is that UTS can and should be doing more regarding its response to gender-based violence.
On 24 February 2024, the Education Minister, as part of the Action Plan Addressing Gender-based Violence in Higher Education, announced the implementation of a National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence. The code has 7 actions:
establishing a National Student Ombudsman
requiring higher education providers to embed a whole‑of‑organisation approach to prevent and respond to gender-based violence
introducing a National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence
enhancing the oversight and accountability of student accommodation providers
identifying opportunities to ensure legislation, regulation and policies can prioritise victim-survivor safety
increasing data transparency and scrutiny
regularly reviewing of progress against the Action Plan.
Its primary purpose is to create a national standard to prevent and respond to gender based violence due to universities' current failed self-regulation.
All universities must begin reporting on their compliance from 1 January 2026. A current fear amongst academics in the space is that universities are treating the code as an upper threshold rather than baseline compliance. Mia Campbell, President of the UTS Students’ Association, has stated that at present, UTS is not aligned with key aspects of the code and that based on the pace of change in this area, it would take a “miracle” to reach this baseline before 1 January 2026.
Dr Rachel Bertram, co-leader of the Bystander Ally Project, also noted that this code is a minimum baseline when it comes to ensuring student and faculty safety on campus and risks a focus on short-term compliance measures above investment in meaningful and transformative change. For instance, in cases of noncompliance, institutions will be liable to a “civil penalty” of 200 penalty units, which is equivalent to a fine of approximately $66,000 under the legislation. This raises a critical question: are universities more likely to implement meaningful internal reforms to improve safety, or simply absorb the fee?
We all hope for the former, but the unfortunate reality in most cases is the latter.
I was recently reminded of a quote by ABC reporter Annabel Crab, “If a man got killed by a shark every week, we'd probably arrange to have the ocean drained”.
Needless to say, all eyes are now on what UTS’s next move will be. How will UTS as an institution prioritise gender-based violence as a prevalent issue? It's going to take more than fruit and ice cream to fix this issue; UTS needs significant internal reform to its response processes. We need staff and students to be held accountable for their actions, and victim-survivors to feel safe on campus.
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