Similar to national trends, a recent study by Victoria’s Crime Statistics Agency, showed that during 2020, family violence incidents reported to police in Victoria had increased compared to 2019, with actual average monthly numbers higher than forecasted (Burgess et al 2021).
Homelessness services
Data on people accessing specialist homelessness services (SHS) can be used to identify people who have experienced family and domestic violence. These data cannot currently distinguish between victims and perpetrators of violence. However, from 1 July 2019, additional information has been collected on the type of services provided to SHS clients, including whether these are victim or perpetrator services (AIHW 2020). These new data will be made available when they are found to be of sufficient quality.
In 2019–20, SHS agencies assisted around 119,200 clients who had experienced domestic and family violence. In 2019–20:
- 9 in 10 (90%) adult (aged 18 years and over) clients were female
- almost half were single parents (48% lived in single parent households)
- almost 1 in 4 (23%) clients were Indigenous Australians
- 3 in 10 (30%) clients aged 10 and over had a current mental health issue
- 1 in 10 (10%) of clients also had problematic drug and/or alcohol use and a current mental health issue.
Nationally, the number of clients reporting they had experienced family and domestic violence and sought assistance from SHS agencies rose on average by 9% each year between 2013–14 and 2017–18 (AIHW 2018). Following years of steady increase, numbers and rates decreased slightly between 2017–18 and 2019–20 (49.2 per 10,000 and 47.0 per 10,000 respectively) as a result of changes to reporting practices in Victoria (AIHW 2020). See also Homelessness and homelessness services.
Throughout the first 7 months of the COVID-19 pandemic (March to December 2020), the number of SHS clients who had experienced domestic and family violence fluctuated from month to month; between 31,700 and 33,800 clients. While there was no national pattern evident, states and territories implemented a variety of different programs throughout the period and not all of these additional program were delivered through the SHS funding pathway. For more information, see Specialist Homelessness Services: monthly data.
Health services
Hospitals provide mainstream health services for assault victims. The AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database includes data about individuals admitted to hospital with injuries caused by physical assault, sexual assault or maltreatment.
In 2019–20:
- more than 1 in 3 (35% or 7,600) people admitted to hospital with assault injuries reported they were victims of family or domestic violence, a 7.5% increase from 7,100 in 2018–19
- more than 1 in 5 (22% or 4,800) reported that the perpetrator was a spouse or domestic partner, a 5.7% increase from 4,600 in 2018–19
- 1 in 3 (33% or 7,400) did not specify a relationship between perpetrator and victim, a 8.3% decrease from 8,000 in 2018–19.
Victims may also present to emergency departments and primary health care professionals. Data on these presentations are not currently available.
Helplines
1800RESPECT is the national sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service. Throughout 2020, around 304,000 contacts (telephone and online) were answered. This may include contacts from frequent callers, nuisance callers and prank calls. Monthly data showed that there was a 32% increase in contacts answered in the 6 months from COVID-19 being declared a pandemic (March to August 2020) (Australian Government Department of Social Services unpublished; AIHW 2021b).
Community attitudes
Social attitudes and norms shape the context in which violence occurs. The National Community Attitudes towards Violence against Women Survey provides information about knowledge and attitudes towards violence against women, gender roles and responses to violence. The survey was previously conducted in 2009, 2013 and 2017, the next survey is due to be completed in 2021.
Overall, the 2017 survey results showed encouraging trends in violence-related knowledge and attitudes. For example, most Australians had accurate knowledge of violence against women and most recognised that violence can occur in different forms and involve more than just physical and sexual violence. While most people’s knowledge of violence against women has increased, there are still areas for improvement, such as:
- 1 in 3 (34%) Australians did not know that women are more likely to be sexually assaulted by a known person than a stranger
- 2 in 5 Australians did not know where to access help for a domestic violence issue
- while almost 2 in 3 (64%) Australians recognised that men are more likely to be perpetrators of domestic violence, this declined by 7 percentage points between 2013 and 2017
- 1 in 5 (19%) Australians did not recognise that women are more likely than men to suffer physical harm from domestic violence (Webster et al. 2018).
Overall, most Australians rejected attitudes supportive of violence against women. Only a small and declining proportion since 2013 agreed that partner violence is a private, family matter. While results were generally encouraging, some attitudes were concerning:
- 1 in 3 (32%) Australians believed that women who do not leave their abusive partners are partly responsible for violence continuing
- 2 in 5 (42%) Australians agreed it was common for sexual assault accusations to be used as a way of getting back at men
- 1 in 5 (21%) Australians believed that domestic violence is a normal reaction to stress and that sometimes a woman can make a man so angry he hits her without meaning to (Webster et al. 2018).
Violence exists on a spectrum of behaviours. The same social and cultural attitudes underpinning family, domestic and sexual violence are at the root of other behaviours such as sexual harassment and stalking.
What is sexual harassment and stalking?
In the ABS 2016 PSS:
Sexual harassment includes indecent phone calls, text messages, emails or social media posts; indecent exposure; inappropriate comments; and unwanted sexual touching.
Stalking is classified as unwanted behaviours (such as following or unwanted contact) that occur more than once and cause fear or distress. Stalking is a crime in every state and territory of Australia (ABS 2017b).
Based on the 2016 PSS:
- 1 in 2 (53% or 5 million) women and 1 in 4 (25% or 2.2 million) men had experienced sexual harassment in their lifetime
- 1 in 6 (17% or 1.6 million) women and 1 in 16 (6.5% or 587,000) men had experienced stalking since the age of 15.
Of the 1.2 million women who experienced stalking from a male in the 20 years before the survey:
- 31% (364,000) perceived the most recent incident as a crime at the time
- 29% (337,000) reported that police were contacted about the most recent incident (ABS 2017a).
A 2020 report by Australia’s eSafety Commissioner on adult’s negative online experiences found that:
- 67% of those surveyed had a negative online experience in the 12 months to August 2019
- 10% of those surveyed said they have been tracked electronically using technology to monitor movements without consent
- 8% of those surveyed said they received threats of real-life harm or abuse.
For more information on family, domestic and sexual violence, see:
References
ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) 2017a. Personal Safety Survey 2016. ABS cat. no. 4906.0. Canberra: ABS.
ABS 2017b. Personal Safety Survey, Australia: User Guide, 2016. ABS cat. no. 4906.0.55.003. Canberra: ABS.
ABS 2021. Recorded Crime - Victims. ABS. Canberra: ABS.
AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) 2018. Specialist homelessness services annual report 2017–18 . Cat. no. HOU 299. Canberra: AIHW.
AIHW 2019. Family, domestic and sexual violence in Australia: continuing the national story 2019. Cat. no. FDV 3. Canberra: AIHW.
AIHW 2020. Specialist homelessness services annual report 2019–20 . Cat. no. HOU 322. Canberra: AIHW.
AIHW 2021a. Child protection in Australia 2019–20. Child protection Australia 2019–20. Cat. no. CWS 78. Canberra: AIHW.
AIHW 2021b. Child protection in the time of COVID-19. Cat. no. CWS 76. Canberra: AIHW.
AIHW 2021c. COVID-19 and the impact on young people. Canberra: AIHW. Viewed 10 August 2021.
Boxall, Morgan and Brown 2020. The prevalence of domestic violence among women during the COVID-19 pandemic. Statistical Bulletin no. 28. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology.
Burgess A, Nguyen A, Chai W and Kelly S 2021. Police-recorded crime trends in Victoria during the COVID-19 pandemic: update to end of December 2020. Melbourne: Crime Statistics Agency.
Office of the eSafety Commissioner 2020. Adults’ negative online experiences. Australian Government.
Webster K, Diemer K, Honey N, Mannix S, Mickle J, Morgan J et al. 2018. Australians’ attitudes towards violence against women and gender equality: findings from the 2017 National Community Attitudes towards Violence Against Women Survey (NCAS). Sydney: ANROWS.