Summary
Aim
To examine long-term trends in domestic and family violence (DFV) in New South Wales (NSW) based on self-reported victimisation.
Key findings
- It is estimated that in NSW over 39,000 persons aged 15 years experienced a physical assault from an intimate partner or family member each year on average, which is equivalent to a rate of 605.4 per 100,000 population.
- No significant change was found in NSW DFV victimisation rates when comparing the earliest time period (July 2010-June 2013) to the most recent (July 2019-June 2022).
- A significant fall in NSW DFV victimisation was observed between the earliest two points, July 2010-June 2013 and July 2013-June 2016, but no other consecutive periods.
- In NSW, approximately 60 per cent victims of physical DFV reported the most recent incident to police. Furthermore, the proportion of victims reporting physical DFV to police has not changed significantly over time.
- Nationally, the DFV self-reported victimisation rate was found to have fallen significantly between the earliest and most recent time periods (July 2010-June 2013 and July 2019-June 2022).
Method
This descriptive study uses pooled data from 12 consecutive Crime Victimisation, Australia surveys from 2010/2011 to 2021/2022 to test for changes in self-reported DFV victimisation. Pooling data improves the precision of victimisation survey estimates and increases our ability to detect changes over time.
Conclusion
Self-reported victimisation data from the Crime Victimisation, Australia survey suggests that the rate of domestic and family violence related physical assault in NSW has remained stable from July 2010-June 2013 compared with July 2019-June 2022. This finding is in contrast to the pattern seen in police recorded incidents of domestic violence-related assault, which have steadily increased over the mid to long term (five, ten and 15 year periods) to 414.2 per 100,000 population in the 12 months to December 2022.