A woman molested as a child has held back tears as she stood on the steps of the Victorian state library recounting her abuse at a rally calling for an end to violence against women.
Amelia told the 50-people gathered in Melbourne CBD on Saturday she had been abused, assaulted and raped about age five by a male neighbour in his late teens, and the justice system had failed her.
"Within a few hours, my parents had called the police to report the assaults. However, the police's recommendation was not to pursue and so no investigation took place," she said.
"They didn't even deem it important enough to report it to child protective services, or to record the event.
"We cannot allow the next generation to take our place to stand here demanding the same change."
The rally was organised in the wake of the death of Courtney Herron, 25, whose body was found at Royal Park in May and she became the fourth woman to be killed in a public place in the city in the past 12 months.
Organiser Belle Lim told AAP many people did not recognise "the link between this horrendous murder with the wider systematic sexism" and called for governments to take strong action against violence.
"We want to call for a response from the state and federal government because we don't have the answers - we know it's a complicated issue - so we hope they can respond to us with a national plan, a state plan that we can see them working towards," she said,
A petition had been circulating for the federal government to increase funding for support for sexual assault victims, while a petition to the state government called for improvements to the criminal justice system.
Protesters finished their rally at Parliament House.
