Violence against women and children needs to stop... now!

During the week, a womens-only event was hosted in Melbourne to continue the discussion on violence against women and children. It's an important discussion to have.

Rosie Batty, a victim of domestic violence, Australian of the Year and former charity founder, stood in front of the crowd and said, "Where are the men?"

It's all well and good to hold these events that aim to continue the discussion about domestic violence and I applaud Rosie for asking that question. Why did the organisers choose to hold a women's-only event? Why were no male leaders invited? Where was the Minister for Women? or the Victorian Minister for Equality Martin Foley MP as it was held in Melbourne?

Men do need to come to the table. The ads running on TV around one guy berating his wife or child and his mates telling him it's not cool is a strong message. Don't get me wrong, still a huge problem and far not enough, but I guess it's a start.

The whole verbal man-bashing by prominent feminists and organisations really needs to stop. Most of us treat women, children, LGBTI, refugees - people with respect.

In the case where an Islamic terrorist kills a group of people and people yell "BUT NOT ALL MUSLIMS ARE TERRORISTS", the same can be said about men. Not all men are violent, wife and child-beating lowlives.

And before you get defensive, take a deep breath and remember we know all men aren't. We know all Muslims aren't terrorists. We know all Americans aren't stupid and fat. We know all Irish don't have drinking problems.

But calling out an entire group and using the word "men" is as inclusive as saying "Muslims" and "Jews". Not everyone is evil, so why do we use collective nouns?

"Men are the problem". Men aren't the problem. A section of society who are fueled by mental health disease, drugs, alcohol, poor upbringings and people from low socio-economic backgrounds make up major statistics into domestic violence rates, as reported by the police and charity organisations.

Violence against anyone is a problem and if we, as a society, want to put an end to it, we need to work together to eradicate this new form of terrorism, as Rosie Batty calls it.

EVERYONE needs to come to the table and something NEEDS to be done to protect all Australians, especially our women and children.