Statement on the alleged murder of Jayda Allen
Last week, we lost Jayda Allen, a 21-year-old Yagera women living in Carlton, to male violence. The media is reporting that her wounds were so extensive, she was unrecognisable to her family. This is a horrifying disgrace.
Jayda is the 55th woman killed in Australia in 2026, and the 7th Aboriginal woman. In addition, we have lost three Aboriginal Girls, including Kumanjayi Little Baby.
Victoria’s crisis of gendered violence is a catastrophe for Aboriginal women and girls, who are 25 times more likely to die from violence than any other woman.
Jayda’s life mattered. The lives of all Aboriginal women affected by violence matter.
Jayda’s family and our wider community is grieving. Sympathy and support are being extended to her family and friends in the usual way that we support each other in times of loss.
But while there is a place for sorrow, there must also be space for outrage and action.
We cannot stand by and let the circumstances of Jayda’s death pass by without accountability. We make this statement with the full support and endorsement of Jayda’s family.
As Victorian Aboriginal leaders, Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations and family safety experts working every day to keep Aboriginal women, men and children safe, especially in the justice system, we can say with 100% certainty – Jayda’s death was entirely preventable, not inevitable.
While her death is now a criminal investigation, it is also a widespread systems failure, especially of the management of high-risk family violence offenders, the management of offenders leaving prison and how we support Aboriginal women and their families to be heard and believed.
We are furious that despite years of cultural safety training and daily work alongside Victoria Police, Corrections, Courts and the Department of Justice and Community Safety, that Djirra and other specialist Aboriginal family violence, justice and health services remained invisible to the system. All the red flags were there, yet we were not called to help.
The systems failure requires a thorough investigation by the Coroner, with full disclosure of policies, processes, statements and other critical decision making documents.
We shared our truths to the Yoorrook Justice Commission, sharing institutional racism, service gaps and funding shortfalls impacting on the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal people. Our truths were translated into recommendations.
In the lead up to this election, there must be a multi-party commitment to implement all of the Yoorrook Recommendations, especially urgent action to keep Aboriginal women safe.
Politicians must rise above party politics, to prevent Aboriginal women losing their lives.
We call on all political parties to stop treating Aboriginal people as a political football and to take urgent action to prevent another tragic loss, like Jayda.
