New Data Shows a Third of Sexual Assaults in Australia Are Domestic Violence

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) just released its 2015 crime data on Wednesday, revealing that reports of sexual assault in Australia have reached a six-year high. Additionally, the new figures show that more than 30 percent of Australian sexual assaults last year occurred within a context of domestic violence. That's one in every three.

When collecting this data, the ABS determined that sexual assault crimes were domestic violence–related when the relationship between offender and victim fell within a specified family or domestic relationship. This included—but wasn't limited to—partners, ex-partners, parents, and children.

There were 7,464 victims of domestic violence-related sexual assault recorded in 2015, an overall increase of seven percent. Most of these reported incidents took place within the home, without the use of any weapon.

The crime report also found that women were disproportionately affected by domestic violence in 2015. Women accounted for almost two thirds of all victims of domestic violence-related homicide last year and similarly, there were five times as many female victims of domestic violence–related sexual assault as males.

The statistics also showed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are far more likely to be victims of violent crime compared to other Australians. The situation is particularly bad in the Northern Territory, where Indigenous Australians are five times more likely to be assaulted compared to non-Indigenous people.

More generally, between 2014 and 2015, there was a three percent increase in sexual assault reports in Australia. Females aged between 15 and 19 years of age were seven times more likely to have been a victim of sexual assault compared to the overall population.

Follow Kat on Twitter