ABS data reveal property theft and sexual assault on the rise

There were 135 victims of family domestic violence (FDV) related homicides in 2022, an increase of 27% on the previous year.

The majority of FDV related homicide victims were female (53 per cent).

The most common age group of FDV related homicide victims was between 35 and 54 years of age (30 per cent).

The majority of FDV related homicides occurred at a residential location (84 per cent) and around half (48 per cent) involved a weapon.

At least two in five assaults recorded were FDV related, ranging from 40 per cent in the ACT to 65 per cent in the Northern Territory.

The number of victims of FDV related assault increased in all states and territories in 2022, ranging from a 1 per cent increase in NSW and the ACT to a 19 per cent increase in the Northern Territory.

For most states and territories, the most common age group among victims of FDV related assault was between 25 and 34 years of age (23-31 per cent).

In the ACT, the most common age group was between 35 and 44 years of age (24 per cent).

There were 11,676 victims of FDV-related sexual assault recorded in 2022, an increase of 3 per cent (314 victims) from the previous year.

More than a third (36 per cent) of all sexual assaults recorded in 2022 were FDV related.

Victims were most commonly female (89 per cent) and aged between 10 and 17 years (35 per cent or 4049 victims).

There were 154 FDV related victims of kidnapping/abduction in 2022.

About a third (30 per cent) of all abductions were FDV related.

Most FDV related abduction victims were female (87 per cent) and aged 18 years or older (77 per cent).

Of the three types of property crime, motor vehicle theft saw the largest increase with 55,037 victims in 2022.

This was followed by burglary up 9 per cent (151,200 victims) and other theft, which includes offences like retail theft, iwhich ncreased by 8 per cent (475,725 victims).

Motor theft in most states and territories increased in 2022, with Queensland recording the largest increase (up 3,685 victims or 25 per cent) and Victoria (up 785 victims or 7%).

"Victims of property crimes dropped to a record low in 2020, coinciding with the introduction of COVID-19 restrictions." ABS head of crime and justice statistics William Milne said.

"Over the past two years, the numbers of recorded victims have been coming back up but are still lower than in 2019."

The rise in property crimes in 2022 are notably higher than the increases reported in 2021, which ranged between 1 and 4 per cent.

IN OTHER NEWS:

The number of sexual assault victims increased by 3% from the previous year to 32,146 victims in 2022.

Accounting for population growth, the victimisation rate also increased between 2021 and 2022 from 121 to 124 victims per 100,000 persons.

This was the highest recorded victimisation rate of sexual assault recorded in the series for thirty years.

There were increases in five of the states and territories, with the largest increases in victim numbers in NSW (up 8 per cent) and Queensland (up 8 per cent).

"We found that most victim-survivors were female (84% or 26,967 victims)," Mr Milne said.

"We also found that victim-survivors were most commonly aged between 10 and 17 years when the sexual assault occurred (42% or 13,439 victims)."

There were 377 victims of homicide or related offences recorded in 2022, an increase of seven victims from the previous year.

Most victims were male (69 per cent) and 18 years or older (85 per cent).

Nearly two thirds (64 per cent) of the homicides occurred at a residential location, more than half (59 per cent) involved the use of a weapon, and more than a third (36 per cent) were family and domestic violence (FDV) related.

There were 9,551 victims of robbery recorded in 2022, an increase of 5 per cent (415 victims) from 2021.

The areas which saw the largest increase in victims were Queensland (up 276 victims or 11 per cent) and the Northern Territory (up 85 victims or 38 per cent).

Most robberies were unarmed (51 per cent) and almost a third (31 per cent) occurred on a footpath.

If you are a victim of family domestic violence or fear you may be, call 000 or 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) for help.