This ‘placemat’ section provides an overview of what is currently (August 2024) known about gender-based violence in Australia, using infographic images and text.

We know that violence poses significant cost to individuals, families and broader society. We also know that attitudes towards gender equality are linked to attitudes towards, and acts of violence. Research shows that whilst attitudes towards gender equality have shifted, improvements are still needed as rigid gender roles increases the risk of violence. We also know that women experiencing violence are diverse and so are their experiences. Whilst less is known about perpetrators and perpetration, we know they are more likely to be men known to victim-survivors and are more at risk of perpetrating violence with risk factors such as alcohol and substance use, financial stress and weak social networks.

Data cited in this section uses a range of terms to describe different forms of gender-based violence including domestic, family and sexual violence (DFSV), family and domestic violence (FDV) and sexual violence (SV). We have used terms that are consistent with the primary data source.

Attitudes towards gender equality and violence

In Australia, between 2009 and 2021, there was a positive shift in attitudes that reject gender inequality and violence against women. There was also an improvement in understanding of violence against women.¹

However, of the respondents to the National Community Attitudes towards Violence against Women Survey (NCAS) in 2021:

• 25% believed that women who do not leave their abusive partners are partly responsible for violence continuing.
• 41% agreed that many women misinterpret innocent remarks as sexist.
• 23% believed domestic violence is a normal reaction to day-to-day stress.²

Men who strongly endorse norms that reflect socially dominant forms of masculinity were more than:

• 8 times more likely to have perpetrated sexual violence against an intimate partner (including 28 times more likely to have used fear to coerce a partner into having sex).
• 5 times more likely to have perpetrated physical violence against an intimate partner (including 17 times more likely to have hit a partner with a fist or something else that could hurt them).³

Victim-survivor characteristics

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples

2 in 3 First Nations people aged 15 and over in 2018-19 who had experienced physical harm in the last 12 months reported the perpetrator was an intimate partner or family member.⁴

LGBTIQA+

60.7% of the surveyed LGBTIQ community had experienced violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime.⁵

Disability

Women with disability are twice as likely to report an incident of sexual violence over their lifetime than women without disability (33% of women with disability compared to 16% of women without disability).⁶

Rural and remote Australians

Women living outside major cities were 1.5 times as likely to have experienced partner violence than women living in major cities (23% compared with 15%).⁷

Children and young people

Around 9 in 10 filicides that occurred in a domestic and family violence context, demonstrated evidence of a history of intimate partner violence prior to the filicide).⁸

Relationship with perpetrator

Women were more likely to have experienced physical and/or sexual violence since the age of 15 by a known person (35% or 3.5 million) than a stranger (11% or 1.1 million).⁹

Experiences of violence

Prevalence and scale of violence against women

• 1 in 4 women (23% or 2.3 million) and 1 in 14 men (7.3% or 692,000) have experienced violence by an intimate partner since the age of 15.
• 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men had experienced emotional abuse by a current or previous cohabiting partner since the age of 15.
• 1 in 5 women and 1 in 16 men had experienced sexual violence since the age of 15.¹⁰

Intimate partner homicide

There have been 1,710 female victims of intimate partner homicide in Australia from 1 July 1989 to 30 June 2024.¹¹

Financial Abuse

80% of women report that their ex-partner had replaced physical abuse with financial abuse via child support as a way to control them since they separated.¹²

Hospitalisation

In 2021-22, 3 in 10 (32% or 6,500) assault hospitalisations were due to FDV.¹³

Police

More than 1 in 2 (53% or 76,900) police-recorded assaults were related to FDV nationally (excluding Victoria and Queensland) in 2022.¹⁴

Perpetration of violence

FDV offending

Across Australia, there were 88,377 offenders proceeded against by police for at least one FDV-related offence in 2022–23, up 6,504 offenders (or 8%) from 2021-22. This was a quarter (25%) of all offenders recorded nationally.¹⁵

In 2022–23, the most common offences for FDV defendants were:

• 41% Assault
• 39% Breach of violence order
• 10% Stalking, harassment or threatening behaviour
• 7% Property damage.¹⁶

Gender

• Almost four in five FDV offenders were male (69,782 offenders).¹⁷
• 68% of filicides in a DFV context was perpetrated by male filicide offenders.¹⁸

Employment status

• Perpetrators of FV were found to have higher levels of unemployment and were more likely to be from more disadvantaged areas.¹⁹

However:

• Non-physical forms of violence (such as shouting, provoking arguments and controlling behaviours) were found to be more common among offenders with higher levels of education and employment.²⁰
• Those who self-reported coercive controlling behaviours were more likely to have completed Year 12 or above and to earn $100,000 per annum or more.²¹

Risk factors for perpetration

Childhood abuse

• An estimated 1.2 million people (43%) aged 18 years and over who experienced childhood abuse before the age of 15 went on to experience violence or abuse by a cohabiting partner as an adult.²²
• 89% of young people (aged 16-20) years who had used violence in the home reported that they had experienced child abuse.²³

History of FDV

• 45% of primary homicide offenders had a history of domestic and family violence: 28% as a perpetrator, 4% as a victim and 13% as both a victim and perpetrator.²⁴
• Between 39% and 55% of domestic violence offenders had a prior history of violence towards an intimate partner.²⁵

Alcohol and substance use

• Over 60% of males who killed a female intimate partner engaged in problematic drug and/or alcohol use in the lead-up to, or at the time of, the homicide.²⁶

Gambling

• Studies have found that between 16-56% of people with a gambling problem perpetrate DFV, and 11% of IPV perpetrators report a gambling problem.²⁷

Pathways into perpetration

There is no single pathway that leads to intimate partner homicide. Recent research shows complex pathways such as:

• “Persistent and disorderly” – Present in 40% of analysed cases. Offenders were often Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples; had complex histories of trauma and abuse; had co-occurring mental, emotional and physical health problems; and had significant histories of violence towards intimate partners and others.²⁸
• “Fixated threat” – Present in 33% of analysed cases. Despite being jealous, controlling and abusive in their relationships, these offenders were relatively functional in other domains of their life. In many cases they were typically middle-class men who were well respected in their communities and had low levels of contact with the criminal justice system.²⁹
• “Deterioration/acute stressor” – Present in 11% of analysed cases. These men tended to be non-Indigenous, older, and to have significant emotional, mental and physical health problems. They tended to have non-abusive relationships with the victim until the onset or exacerbation of a significant life stressor (or stressors) triggered a deterioration in their health and wellbeing, impacting on their attitude towards the victim.³⁰