Murdered student Aiia Maasarwe should have been safe in Victoria, the state's premier Daniel Andrews says, as he slammed a culture of violence against women.
The 21-year-old Palestinian Arab of Israeli citizenship was studying in Melbourne when viciously attacked and killed in the city's northern suburbs earlier this week.
"She should have been safe here. And I am heartbroken she wasn't," Mr Andrews, currently on leave, tweeted on Friday.
Police are hunting Ms Maasarwe's killer and say she suffered a horrific assault before her body was found at Bundoora near where she had alighted a tram.
"Victorians are united in sadness. In anger that this bright young woman's life was taken from her. I hope we are also united in determination. That we can - and must - end this culture of violence against women," Mr Andrews wrote.
"But nothing will change until we change, too. Until we stop blaming 'bad men' - while ignoring the sexist attitudes in our society that created them.
"Until we recognise that while not all disrespectful behaviour towards women leads to violence, all violence towards women starts with disrespect."
It's not the first time Victoria has been left reeling by the killing of a young woman.
Ms Maasarwe's murder follows those of aspiring comedian Eurydice Dixon, 22, last year and previously the deaths of Masa Vukotic, 17, and Jill Meagher, 29.
