Nearly one-third of homicides over a period of more than two decades have been classed as domestic violence-related incidents in a major review that highlights the extent of the growing scourge.
The major NSW report also found more than half of those killings involved attacks on current or former partners as governments grapple with how best to combat the problem.
Its release on Thursday comes as three powerful superannuation bodies call for legal changes to stop domestic violence perpetrators profiting from their abuse.
The NSW domestic violence death review, led by State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan, analysed 550 homicides that occurred following a history of domestic violence between 2000 and 2022.
From that cohort, its report found two-thirds of women were killed at the point of separation or after their relationship ended.
Three-quarters of deaths that came after a break-up involved a history of stalking by a man before the homicide.
NSW Women's Safety Commissioner Hannah Tonkin said at the heart of the report were the families of victims who had been killed at the hands of their abusers.
"These are lives cut short, families destroyed and children left behind to deal with unimaginable trauma," she said.
The Super Members Council, Association of Super Funds of Australia and Women in Super have urged the federal government to reform superannuation death-benefit laws so a perpetrator cannot profit from their abuse.
Under existing laws, an abuser can receive a partner's death benefit unless they are the direct cause of that person's death, even if their offending indirectly contributed to a victim's cause of death.
Super Members Council chief executive Misha Schubert said an abuser getting their victim's super death benefit was an extension of the abuse.
"Perpetrators should not profit from their crimes," she said.
"It's time to close this legal loophole to protect victims of family violence and financial abuse."
The superannuation bodies have proposed expanding current forfeiture rules to exclude those responsible for domestic or family violence-related crimes.
State and federal governments have rolled out a range of measures in an attempt to stem the violence following a spike in shocking domestic killings.
Almost $1 billion in commonwealth funds has been allocated to a program that will provide $5000 payments to people fleeing domestic violence, while NSW recently rolled out a $230 million emergency funding package.
NSW Women's Minister Jodie Harrison said the landmark report made for "really sobering reading" and it was a stark reminder of the need to keep families safe.
"We need to take genuine prevention action, we need to take early intervention action," she told state parliament.
"We need to make crisis responses and we need to provide healing and recovery for those sectors."
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