The Victorian public health and wellbeing plan (2023) highlights the profound impact that family violence has on health and wellbeing. Violence is predominantly a gender-specific issue, with the majority of incidents being committed by men against women (Source: Department of Education 2019). It also notes street and community violence primarily affects men.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (2023) estimates that 8 million Australians (41%) have experienced physical and/or sexual violence, including:
- 31% of women and 42% of men have experienced physical violence since the age of 15
- 22% of women and 6.1% of men have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15
- 27% of women and 12% of men have experienced violence by an intimate partner or family member since the age of 15
- 18% of women and 11% of men experienced childhood abuse before the age of 15.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (2023) estimates that 52% of people who experienced physical assault in 2021–22 reported it to police. Earlier work by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2016) suggests that reporting rates for family violence are much lower than this.
In Boroondara, more than 600 violent crimes (homicides, assaults, sexual offences and robberies) were recorded by police during 2024 (Figure 1). Of the recorded violent crimes 32.1% were family violence assaults.
Sexual offences and homicide can also be family violence, but offence subgroup data does not distinguish these incidents from other sexual offences and homicides.
Figure 1: Common assault was the largest offence subgroup for violent criminal incidents in Boroondara during 2024 Data source: Crime Statistics Agency 2024
More information
More statistics related to crime, including family violence, are available on our Crime and safety statistics pages.