Family violence is an issue of national significance in
Australia. The importance of this issue in Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander communities has been recognised by community
leaders who have encouraged and supported the development of better
information in this area. A report released today by the Australian
Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) sheds light on the extent of
family violence and its associated harms for Indigenous people in
particular.
Report author, Dr Fadwa Al-Yaman, said the report, Family
violence among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples,
is the first to take a comprehensive look at the extent to which
existing data can be used to profile Indigenous family
violence.
'Looking at the data in this way provides important information
on the services needed, and where they can be best targeted,' Dr
Al-Yaman said.
Findings of the report include:
- In 2005, 6% of Australian women and 11% of men reported that
they had experienced violence in the last 12 months. Most of those
women (78%) and many of those men (34%) were assaulted by someone
known to them.
- In 2002-03, of all Australian women who experienced intimate
partner violence, most (86%) did not report the incident to the
police and 84% did not seek formal help.
- In 2002, about one in four Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander people aged 15 years and over reported being a victim of
physical or threatened violence in the twelve months before the
survey (24%) -around twice the rate of non-Indigenous
Australians.
- The rate of reported violence among Indigenous Australians was
similar in remote and non-remote areas, but the rate of family
violence reported as a neighbourhood problem in remote areas was
almost three times that in urban areas (41% compared to 14%).
- In 2003-04, there were 4,500 hospitalisations of Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander people due to assault in Queensland, Western
Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory combined-50%
of hospitalisations of Indigenous women due to assault were related
to family violence, with four out of five assaults committed by a
spouse or partner.
'The data showed that about one-third of the assaults for which
people were hospitalised, occurred in the family home' Dr Al-Yaman
said.
Indigenous women were 13 times, and Indigenous men seven times,
more likely to seek refuge from family violence through the
Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP) than were
non-Indigenous women and men respectively.
1 November 2006
Further information: Dr Fadwa Al-Yaman, tel. 02
6244 1146 or mob. 0407 068 033
For media copies of the report: Publications
Officer, AIHW, tel 61 2 6244 1032.
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications
Catalogue for availability of Family violence among
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.