SYDNEY, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Australian authorities on Monday called for an integrated nationwide response to domestic violence after three women and a child were killed in separate incidents in the east coast state of New South Wales (NSW).
Domestic Violence NSW, the state's peak body for frontline services, said in a statement that domestic violence is an intergenerational crisis in Australia that requires long-term commitment, coordination and sustained national investment.
"This is large-scale violence and, at its most devastating, murder. We would not accept this level of loss in another area of national safety, and we cannot accept it here," it said.
The statement was issued after three women were killed in separate alleged domestic violence incidents across NSW within 10 hours on Saturday.
In a fourth separate incident, a five-year-old boy was killed and two other children were critically injured in a stabbing west of Sydney on Sunday.
Police on Monday confirmed that the 42-year-old mother of the children is being treated as a suspect and is expected to be charged with murder if she recovers from her own critical injuries that were allegedly self-inflicted.
"In my career, I don't think I have seen a weekend like this or a 48-hour period," NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Peter McKenna told reporters. "Such tragedy, such horrific events that have touched the whole community."
He said that none of the alleged offenders in any of the four incidents were previously known to police.
McKenna said that the five-year-old boy's two siblings remained in critical but stable condition on Monday. ■
