Importantly, premiers, chief ministers, the prime minister and local government acknowledged that preventing and eliminating violence against women and children requires a change in our "culture and habits". The symbolism of an almost all-male panel was not lost on many of us either.  

We must address the norms and behaviours that support rigid gender roles and gender stereotyping. It was good to hear Tony Abbott recognise this in his comments.

"Fathers have got to say to sons that it's just not on to raise your hand against a woman," said Abbott. "Mates have got to say to mates that it's just not on to raise your hand against a woman, or to tell that appalling sexist joke."

Yes, daily acts of courage, of leadership, are necessary in order to change the statistics and people's lives.

It is also time for the states, territories and the Commonwealth to focus on primary prevention. Primary prevention means stopping the violence before it begins.

Eradicating gender-based violence involves challenging the deeply ingrained attitudes, beliefs and distorted values that give rise to violence against women and engage the institutions that reinforce, allow or do not challenge these attitudes.

This is one of the roles of Our Watch, Australia's National Foundation to Prevent Violence Against Women and their Children.

Our Watch crosses party lines and state borders to work towards preventing violence against women and their children. Our work includes providing national leadership in the field of prevention but we also need leadership across government, business and community leaders. We are committed to an Australia in which women and their children are free from all forms of violence.

The Commonwealth of Australia, Victoria, the Northern Territory and South Australia are members of Our Watch, and the Tasmanian and Queensland governments have announced their intention to join.

The panel also reminded our leaders that the biggest risk factor for becoming a victim of sexual assault, domestic or family violence in Australia today is being a woman. It will report back to COAG by the end of 2015.

Notwithstanding the public perception that our streets and entertainment strips are where the problem exists, women usually experience violence and abuse at the hands of men they know – often in their own homes and often repeatedly.

Public discussion has grown, but so have the disclosures and the deaths. In Australia in recent years every week, including this week, one woman dies from this violence at the hands of an intimate or former partner. Since the beginning of this year, 52 women have died by violence, the majority murdered by people they know. 

It is time to prevent these chilling statistics.