Why Australia’s domestic violence problem is complicated

The figures do reveal significant gender disparities: men make up 87 per cent of homicide offenders, and 69 per cent of homicide victims. And while men are most likely to be killed by a friend, acquaintance, or someone outside their immediate family, women were more likely to be killed by a former or current partner, making up 49 per cent of all victims.

AIC researcher Samantha Bricknell said COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020-21 and 2021-22 appear to have resulted in some of the lowest rates ever of intimate partner homicides in Australia, about 0.25 per 100,000 Australian women.

“The rate increase [this year], which has been seen in some other jurisdictions, was possibly expected from that end. And we have gone back to the rates that we were seeing pre-COVID,” she said.

Dr Bricknell said researchers would be looking to see if the current increase in killings was “sustained”, or if the pre-pandemic downturn would continue. She noted the decrease was not currently as steep as it had been in the 1990s and progress could be at risk of plateauing.

Productivity Commission research released earlier in 2024 showed the number of people reporting sexual assaults has increased over the past five years. In 2022, the rate of victimisation in sexual crimes in 2022 was 124 per 100,000 population, up from 95 per 100,000 in 2016.

Overseas experiences show how difficult a problem violence against women remains. Consider the “Nordic paradox” where, despite strong gender equity across all the Nordic countries, violence still remains about a third higher than the average of other European countries, and about 20 per cent higher than Australia. One reason researchers point to is male resentment at women over pay.

Amid calls from advocacy organisations and MPs from across federal parliament for Labor to do more, national cabinet this week agreed to nearly $1 billion in new emergency payments and support services for women seeking to escape violent relationships. The hope is that targeted action, and policies to boost women’s economic security more broadly, can continue to deliver results.

State-based royal commission

The prime minister addressed a small group of journalists in Sydney after the national cabinet meeting. Labor MPs spruiking the new spending on social media did not acknowledge they were making permanent a trial program first put in place under former Liberal prime minister Scott Morrison.

Further work is also planned. State premiers will task police ministers and attorneys-general with work on a broad range of additional responses, including reforms to bail laws, criminal sentencing and new prevention measures including ankle bracelet monitoring systems.

The PM and premiers will meet again in the middle of the year to decide on more options.

The NSW government is considering following Victoria and South Australia by launching a state-based royal commission into domestic violence, even as experts warned on Friday dozens of recommendations from previous government reports had never been put into action.

Amid growing community anger and difficult politics for Albanese, the true status of Australia’s domestic violence problem is hard to determine.

University of South Australia criminologist Rick Sarre said the uptick in homicides was rightfully cause for mounting concern for policymakers. But he said the Australian homicide rate is historically low – currently 0.87 deaths per year per 100,000 population.

“There has been a 52 per cent reduction in homicide incidents since 1989‒90, indicative of a long-term downward trend in unlawful killings,” he said.

Sarre, an emeritus professor of law and criminal justice, stresses that interpretations of crime data always require caution. This is because a great deal of crime is never reported, definitions differ across states and territories and the system includes significant biases, including police discretion.

“Moreover, long-term trends are often ignored in the rush to analyse short-term crime rate fluctuations,” he said.

Sarre says locking more people up won’t solve the problem. Instead, he subscribes to so-called “transformative intervention” measures, including more funding for women’s support services, respect education programs for young men, and programs tailored to help Indigenous communities.

Murders decline

NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research director Jackie Fitzgerald said the figures around domestic violence incidents were complex, and a rising number of less serious assaults was part of the picture.

“All murders are down. Murders involving men, murders involving women, domestic murders, non-domestic murders, they’re all down,” Ms Fitzgerald said. “The fact that it’s across different murder types – that suggests to me there’s not a single cause or a single driver.”

Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley said the events of the week were significant, but said it was past time for Labor to deliver its existing promises on domestic violence.

“Whilst we want the government to succeed in every initiative it undertakes to combat this national cancer, we also owe it to the women of Australia to scrutinise the prime minister’s missteps so that the government can be better,” she said.

“That is why we continue to urgently ask Anthony Albanese to provide an update on the progress of the promised 500 caseworkers and an explanation on why the commitment is tracking so poorly.”

In March, Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth conceded that just 17 of the promised 500 domestic violence staff had started work. Labor’s policy was for 200 new workers to be employed in 2022-23, with the rest delivered by 2024-25.

The new money agreed in national cabinet will add to an existing $2.3 billion already announced by Labor towards implementing the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032 and other women’s safety initiatives.

The leaders also agreed to trial new measures to limit children’s access to pornography and extreme online misogyny. A pilot of age assurance technology will be funded, and parliament will consider new laws banning the creation and non-consensual distribution of deepfake pornography.

The scale of the problem is likely growing, and Albanese pointed to toxic social media influencers preaching misogyny and forceful masculinity.

Ongoing action

About 25 per cent of teenage boys in Australia have accessed content from toxic social media personalities who perpetuate harmful gender stereotypes.

“There should be zero tolerance for harmful content that glorifies violence against Australian women,” Albanese said. “Young adults should not be coached in disrespect or misogyny by online influencers.”

Separately, school programs teaching young people about respectful relationships and efforts by organisations as diverse as big government departments and the AFL could help shift attitudes.

Researchers at Australian National University have called for more drastic policies as well, proposing US-style gun and gang violence responses be applied to domestic violence perpetrators, quickly escalating to locking up offenders. The successful US “focused deterrence” approach could include expanding the role of fixated threat assessment centres.

Political leaders will be hoping Australia can build on the cultural shift under way and further increase safety for women in the community. If not, the already intense pressure on Albanese and state leaders is likely to intensify.

The prime minister finished the week acknowledging more progress was needed, saying domestic violence requires a whole of society response.

“This is something that requires concerted action day after day, week after week, month after month, by governments at all levels, and that is something that my government is determined to do,” he said.