As it is a huge topic, I'll confine my comments to its political ramifications.

For let there be no mistake, though dealing with issues of crucial importance, it was a political act on the part of PM Morrison and his cronies in the Liberal/Nationals coalition government.

Greens deputy leader and spokesperson on women Senator Larissa Waters said it was "yet another exercise in political theatre for a government that remains completely out of touch with Australian women".

As many commentators have pointed out, Morrison views everything through a male political perspective.

At the moment, his political thinking is how to win the forthcoming federal election, which will involve winning back disaffected women voters.

It is very much the patriarchy at work.

Australian of the Year Grace Tame pointed out its political motivation when asked by Peter Fitzsimons in the Sydney Morning Herald if the summit was "serious, or political window dressing".

She responded by saying: "What we've seen in this government is a clear pattern of denial, minimisation, ultimately dismissal of women's issues".

Just before the summit, federal parliament passed laws granting employers the power to fire someone for sexual harassment.

However, the onus remains on victims to initiate complaints, and unions aren't allowed to bring complaints on behalf of their members.

It was but a tiny component of the 55 recommendations of Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins's Respect@Work report.

The rest have been ignored.

The summit was part of the regular process of updating the national plan to reduce violence against women that was launched by Julia Gillard in 2010 and revised several times since.

This year's event has intense political significance in large part because of the campaign, led courageously by former Liberal parliamentary staffer Brittany Higgins and Grace Tame, to highlight the Coalition's shortcomings.

The PM opened the summit by saying: "I want all women, every girl, in this nation to live without fear. That's liberty. I want their humanity, their dignity, their innate worth as a human being and the freedoms to which they're entitled, to be respected," he said.

As well as being straight from the neo-liberal songbook, Morrison's speech was fundamentally flawed when he said he wanted the next iteration of the national women's safety plan to be a "bipartisan cause".

While it is true that both major parties back federal action on these issues, if Mr Morrison is saying that he wants to take women's issues off the political agenda, "he is dreaming" (SMH).

The campaign to end violence against women is inherently political and it must remain one of the key yardsticks against which the different parties are judged.

Different parties will approach this with their own priorities and philosophies.

For example, the Coalition and the Opposition fought over the implementation of previously mentioned laws that grant employers the power to fire someone for sexual harassment.

The ALP has also called for more investment in social housing for women escaping domestic violence, 10 days paid leave for victims of domestic violence, supporting women on temporary visas who are fleeing domestic violence and more legal aid for survivors of domestic violence.

It's a reasonable start, but women's safety cannot be disentangled from broader economic questions.

Women without superannuation or financial support can feel trapped and unable to flee abusive partners.

From the Greens, Senator Waters said, "If he wanted to actually provide women with the frontline domestic and family violence services they need he'd stump up the $1 billion a year that the sector is calling for, address the housing crisis, and raise JobSeeker to provide income security for women".

The Liberal Party's approach to these problems is based on its philosophy of smaller government.

"This issue will loom large at the next election", said a Sydney Morning Herald editorial last week.

What we need, of course, is an evidence-based, properly funded, comprehensive plan with legislated commitments on all key points.

"But it's clear that the Morrison Government just wanted a showpiece summit and a National Plan for Trying to Win Back Women Voters", accurately noted Senator Waters.