Men who use violence against their female partners are perpetrating family violence. Some other examples of what family violence can look like include:
- Adult children financially abusing an elderly parent
- A man with a disability being sexually abused by his carer
- Teenage children being verbally abusive to siblings or parents
- A parent cutting off a child because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Discrimination and inequality mean some people will experience more severe forms or higher rates of family violence, including:
- First Nations people
- LGBTIQ+ people
- People from migrant and refugee backgrounds
- People with disabilities.
95%
of all victims (regardless of gender) experience violence from a male perpetrator. [1]
3 in 5
LGBTIQ+ people have experienced intimate partner violence. [2]
2 in 5
people living in Australian aged care facilities experience elder abuse. [3]
64%
of people with disability have experienced violence since the age of 15. [4]
1 in 4
Australian youth have experienced child sexual abuse before age 18. [5]
20%
of surveyed young people in Australia reported using violence in the home. [6]
1 in 14
men have experienced intimate partner violence since the age of 15. [7]
Statistics sources
- Diemer, K. (2015). ABS Personal Safety Survey: Additional analysis on relationship and sex of perpetrator. Documents and working papers, Research on violence against women and children. University of Melbourne.
- Hill, A. O., Bourne, A., McNair, R., Carman, M. & Lyons, A. (2020) “Private Lives 3: The health and wellbeing of LGBTIQ people in Australia,” Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University.
- Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, Research Paper 17 (2020).
- Centre of Research Excellence in Disability and Health (2021) Nature and extent of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation against people with disability in Australia.
- Mathews B et al. (2023) The prevalence of child maltreatment in Australia: findings from a national survey. Med J Aust. 218 (6). Prevalence of maltreatment in young people aged 16-24 years.
- Fitz-Gibbon, K., Meyer, S., Boxall, H., Maher, J., & Roberts, S. (2022). Adolescent family violence in Australia: A national study of prevalence, history of childhood victimisation and impacts (Research report, 15/2022). ANROWS.
- ABS Personal Safety Survey 2021-22.