A warning that this story contains content that may upset readers. If you believe that reading the below article will traumatise you, you may choose to forgo it.
This week women have marched across the nation in protest of the shocking rise in domestic violence murders.
With more than two dozen women dead as a result of gender-based violence this year alone, and a report emerging on Monday from the Australian Institute of Criminology showing that the rate of women killed by an intimate partner in Australia increased by nearly 30% in 2022-23 compared to the previous year, it is no wonder that Australians are demanding answers.
It’s a plea that has been acknowledged by the Australian government who have called an emergency national cabinet meeting this week.
The domestic violence statistics
New statistics have confirmed that, despite a 30-year downward trend in women being killed by their partners, there was a sharp rise in 2022-23. According to the Australian Institute of Criminology, the rate of women killed by their partners in Australia grew by 28% from 2021–22 to 2022–23. Half of the female homicide victims in 2022–23 were killed by a former or current partner.
There were 34 women killed in intimate partner incidents in the financial year 2022–23, which is the equivalent of 0.32 per 100,000 people. The year before, the rate was 0.25 such homicides per 100,000.
What the experts are saying
Rick Sarre, emeritus professor of law at University of South Australia points out that while rates have been on the decline in recent decades, a recent spike has caused serious concern.
“Historically, the rate of women killed by their partners has been on the decline since the late 1980s and early 1990s. It has decreased by 66% over the past 34 years, according to the AIC.”
“However, the uptick in the homicide rate last year – coupled with the sharp rise in women killed in the first four months of 2024 – are cause for mounting concern for all Australians.”
AIC research manager Samantha Bricknell said it was as yet unclear what was causing the upward trend. “The increase that we’ve seen in 22-23 is a sizeable increase, but what we are seeing in terms of the numbers of victims in 22-23 — and certainly the rate of intimate partner homicide perpetrated against a female — are similar to what we were seeing pre-COVID,” Dr Bricknell said.
She noted, too, that intimate partner homicide committed against women was higher among First Nations women than non-Indigenous women – 63 per cent for Indigenous women compared to 52 per cent for non-Indigenous women. “So it is high for both First Nations and non-Indigenous women, but again the intimate partner homicide rate is sizable for First Nations women,” she said.
Bricknell said Covid restrictions and lockdowns also had a “suppression effect” on intimate partner homicides. The number of intimate partner killings of women dropped from 37 in 2019-2020, to 27 the following year, and 26 in 2021-2022.
“I mean a fact is a fact – we’ve had a 28% increase in the rate and a 31% increase in the number of female victims of intimate partner homicide,” she said. “That’s not to take away that we’ve had [that] … but we’re just not sure at this point, whether this is a reflection of an increase in female victimisation from intimate partner homicide, or just a factor of a change in the pattern, as we’ve emerged from Covid.”
Three different categories of homicides
The Homicide in Australia 2021-22 report did record the lowest rate of acquaintance homicide in 34 years. Generally homicide is split into three categories:
- Domestic homicide: where the victim and the offender are members of the same family, or are in an intimate relationship
- Acquaintance homicide: where the victim and the offender are friends or are acquainted in some way
- Stranger homicide: where the victim and the offender are strangers
Dr Bricknell said usually the rates of domestic and acquaintance homicide were “fairly similar proportionally across the year”, but the 2022-23 report did not follow that trend.
Domestic homicides, which include all cases where the victim was an intimate partner or relative of the offender, were the most common category of homicide in 2022-23, with 79 deaths (34% of all incidents). There were 64 instances of acquaintance homicide (28%) and 34 incidents of stranger homicide (15%).
Most deaths (56%) took place in a residential setting and the most common place for someone to be killed was their own home (33.6%).
Ninety percent of homicides in 2022-23 were cleared by police – that is an offender was charged or died. This is similar to the clearance rate of previous years.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who has called it a “national crisis,” will on Wednesday convene a cabinet meeting to discuss how the government can best intervene.
If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse, help is available. If you are in immediate danger, call 000 for police and abundance help. The 24-hour national sexual assault, family and domestic violence counselling line is also available at 1800 737 732.
