We were all shocked by the events of this summer. The murders of Sarah Everard, Sabina Nessa and Wenjing Lin have brought into frightening relief the toxic masculinity that led violent men to murder them and the focus that is placed on women’s behaviour rather than that of the perpetrators.

However, there's been an important change in the public’s reaction to these events. I welcomed the public response that sought to honour their memory by tackling the misogyny that killed them and reclaiming them as human beings with real lives, not as victims. I've been particularly heartened by the male voices we've heard recognising that male violence lies at the heart of this problem and, therefore, that men have an important role to play as part of the solution.

This is the public mood we seek to harness and lead with this violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence strategy. Women have long found allies amongst men, such as those among you who champion the White Ribbon campaign we're currently celebrating. We must now turn that support into leadership that stretches across the whole of society, so that cat-calling, harassment, sexist banter and objectification do not provide the foundation stones on which abuse, coercion, rape and murder take place.

We've achieved a lot in Wales in tackling VAWDASV, yet still domestic abuse is the biggest killer of women aged 19 to 44 in the UK. I will repeat that to allow it to sink in: in the UK, domestic abuse kills more women aged 19 to 44 than breast cancer. One hundred and fifteen women have been killed by men so far this year, and one in four women will experience domestic abuse and one in five sexual assault in their lifetime. Whilst we can acknowledge what we have achieved, the scale of the challenge and the commitment we all need to make is clearly illustrated by that fact; a fact that I'm sure we are all determined to change.

So, how will the strategy make a difference? This strategy is built on a strengthened partnership. We've operated with a considerable amount of commitment between key partners, both statutory, in the specialist sector, and with survivors. But, we need to strengthen the structures of leadership and governance to ensure that action is co-ordinated and directed so that, collectively, we offer more than the sum of our parts.

Much of the response to VAWDASV falls to non-devolved bodies, such as the police or the prison and probation service. If we are to make our contributions complement each other, if we are to be accountable to each other, then we need a governance system that can drive real collaboration. This, then, is a whole-Wales public sector strategy that is signed up to not just by the Welsh Government, but also by relevant non-devolved bodies.

The national partnership board featured in these new arrangements in the strategy will bring together devolved and non-devolved partners. I will co-chair this board with Dafydd Llywelyn, the lead police and crime commissioner for Wales for the four police forces. Development of this blueprint approach was discussed at the policing and partnership board on Thursday 2 December, which I chaired, with strong commitment to the new strategy expressed by the four chief constables, police and crime commissioners and their partners. The board will also be populated with the voices of a diverse group of survivors to co-produce our solutions and monitor our progress.

Tackling street harassment is an important part of this strategy. It's central to our view that by reducing the overall level and increasing the unacceptability of street harassment and the attitudes that lie behind it, we reduce the overall likelihood of violence against women and girls, domestic abuse and sexual violence by challenging the misogyny that lies beneath it.

Equally, workplace harassment has a significant impact on life chances for individuals; gender equality as well as cross-sectional equality issues such as race, disability and LGBTQ+. We will work with social partners to tackle workplace harassment.

Learning from public health approaches, we will work with perpetrators to both challenge and support those who carry out abuse to both deter and facilitate enduring change in their behaviour.

We want to continue to develop our work with professionals to equip them to identify, challenge and refer cases of VAWDASV through programmes such as 'ask and act' and the 'identification and referral to improve safety', or IRIS, scheme engaging general practitioners at the frontline, but we will also bolster our wider public awareness campaigns to reflect our focus on prevention.

We’ll facilitate change at the whole-society level by leading public discussion to de-normalise violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence and the attitudes that support it.

Finally, Deputy Llywydd, I want to highlight the co-productive aspect of the strategy. The voices of survivors from different communities and backgrounds will be integral to developing our strategy in a way that can work in the real world. Listening to those diverse voices will help us to find solutions that build on the strengths of survivors.

This is a cross-Government strategy with active engagement and support from ministerial colleagues in education, health, housing, local government and the economy. Of particular relevance to the strategy has been the follow-up to the 'Everyone’s Invited' report, with an Estyn inspection due to report shortly, and expectations of the role that the new curriculum will play in a positive role in the development of healthy, respectful relationships between our children and young people.

In developing this strategy, we have been supported by the involvement of a number of stakeholders. Clearly, we are at a consultative stage, so we remain open to the responses that will flow from this consultation, but I’m confident that we’ve formed a very strong base for this strategy, and I call on Members to commit their support to its delivery. Those who are exposed to violence against women and girls, domestic abuse and sexual violence will expect this of us as we strive for Wales to become the safest place to live for women and girls, where we all have a right to live fear free.