'A really black mark on our community': Katy Gallagher says Lilie James and six other violent October deaths are 'devastating'

At least one Australian woman is killed every week by a current or former partner, according to the Institute of Health and Welfare, but there have been at least seven women suffering violent deaths in October alone and six in the past 10 days, including Canberra woman Thi Thuy Huong Nguyen.

The women have been found dead in Perth, Bendigo, Muswellbrook and Aldinga Beach in South Australia, while the body of 21-year-old high school water polo coach Lilie James was found last Thursday in the gymnasium toilets at a prestigious Sydney school.

Acting federal opposition leader Sussan Ley described the deaths as a "national crisis" and questioned the one-year-old National Plan to "end domestic violence within a generation", while a cross-party group of federal MPs has called for more funding for frontline services.

Senator Gallagher said it was "devastating what's been happening", but the government, while providing $2.3 billion in women's safety initiatives, was not the only answer.

"It talks to a bigger problem with this country," she told reporters in Canberra. "It's about how we treat and respect women and an attitude, or the prevalence of violence, that women face is extraordinary.

"And there's a lot [the government] have to do, but we've got to partner with the community.

"A lot of it is long-term work and hard work. It's about changing attitudes. It's about getting into schools early and ensuring that kids, young boys, young men, as they grow up are educated and supported about appropriate attitudes and conduct towards women. This is not something that we are going to solve overnight."

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The Minister described the recent violence as a "really black mark on our community" and agreed more needed to be done.

"We have a role to play, I don't want to walk away from that," the ACT senator said. "The National Plan sets our targets. We've invested heavily in this area.

"We've got to do more about addressing perpetrators. Providing safety for women, practical programs that help women escape violence, and condemn these out - these terrible, terrible, awful sets of circumstances for those women and their families."

In a joint statement, Liberal MP Bridget Archer, Labor MP Alicia Payne and Greens Senator Larissa Waters urged governments to tackle the root causes of violence against women and children, and transform harmful social norms that can lead to "these horrific gendered killings".

The cross-party federal Parliamentary Friends of Ending Violence Against Women also called for more funding for frontline services that help women escape violence, as well as well-funded, expert-led respectful relationships education in schools, sporting associations, workplaces, and across all aspects of society.

Ms Payne said Australia has an "epidemic of violence" and the government's commitment to the National Plan is real.

"It is an incredibly ambitious commitment of our government to actually end violence against women and children within a decade, and that's something we're all taking very seriously across portfolios," she told The Canberra Times.

"The deaths of seven women in just the last month are a really devastating reminder of the depths of the problem that we have in Australia with this and the need for the whole community to work to prevent this from happening and to change those behaviours that are leading towards this."

The federal opposition is calling for greater action.

"This is a national crisis and we are not talking about it enough," Ms Ley said in a statement. "This crisis requires us all to do more together. It has to remain above politics."

"One year ago, we were told there was a plan to 'end domestic violence within a generation'. That raised the hopes of all women in Australia. It is a worthy commitment and it is important we commit to it.

"But a year on, and with more and more women being killed, questions must be asked about what is being done."