Domestic Violence Statistics in Australia 2026 | Cases, Funding & Key Facts

Domestic Violence in Australia 2026

Australia entered 2026 still grappling with what the Prime Minister declared on April 28, 2024 to be a “national crisis” of violence against women — and the data released over the past twelve months confirms that the crisis has not abated. The Australian Bureau of Statistics, in its most recent release on March 18, 2026, reported that 97,800 family and domestic violence (FDV) offenders were recorded by police in the 2024–25 financial year — an 8% increase from 90,700 offenders in 2023–24, and the largest annual increase in FDV offenders since national reporting began in 2019–20. The 2024–25 rate of 403 offenders per 100,000 people is the highest recorded offender rate since national FDV data was first published. These are not figures from an improving trend. They are the statistical signature of a system under escalating pressure — more offenders being recorded, more interactions with police, and a violence footprint that spans every state, territory, and demographic group in the country.

The scale of the underlying problem is captured in the lifetime experience data from the ABS 2021–22 Personal Safety Survey, the most recent comprehensive national survey of its kind. An estimated 4.2 million Australian adults — 21% of the population — have experienced partner violence or abuse since the age of 15, including 17% of women and 5.5% of men. Around 23% of women — approximately 1 in 4 — have experienced intimate partner violence since age 15, according to the 2026 Status of Women Report Card released by the Australian Government in March 2026. 22% of women have experienced sexual violence, and 49% of LGBTQIA+ people have experienced sexual assault — mostly perpetrated by cisgender men. The AIHW’s updated domestic homicide data, released in April 2026, confirms that one woman was killed every 11 days and one man every 26 days by an intimate partner on average in 2024–25. The rate fell by 35.6% from 2023–24 to 2024–25 — a meaningful improvement — yet 28 women were still killed by a current or former intimate partner in 2025 alone. Behind every data point in this article is a life shaped — or ended — by violence that, by any measure, continues to operate at crisis scale.

Key Domestic Violence Facts in Australia 2026

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics — FDV Offenders Rise 8% (abs.gov.au, March 18, 2026); Australian Institute of Health and Welfare — Domestic Homicide (aihw.gov.au, April 2026); AIHW — FDSV Summary (aihw.gov.au, April 23, 2026); Australian Government Status of Women Report Card 2026 (genderequality.gov.au, March 6, 2026); ABS Personal Safety Survey 2021–22 (abs.gov.au); PM&C — Gender-Based Violence in Australia at a Glance (pmc.gov.au, August 2024); Australian Institute of Criminology — Homicide in Australia Report (aic.gov.au, April 2024); Budget 2025–26 — Opportunity and Equality (budget.gov.au); Our Watch — Quick Facts (ourwatch.org.au)

The two figures that dominate this table — 97,800 FDV offenders in 2024–25 and 28 women killed by a partner in 2025 — represent the criminal justice tip of a much larger iceberg. The ABS’s offender count captures only the violence that reaches the police, is recorded as FDV-related, and results in an offender being proceeded against. The 2021–22 Personal Safety Survey — the gold standard for capturing the full prevalence of partner violence including unreported incidents — estimated 4.2 million Australians had experienced partner violence or abuse since age 15. The distance between 97,800 police-recorded offenders and 4.2 million lifetime victims is the measure of how much domestic violence operates below the threshold of police contact, embedded in daily household life, invisible to official statistics. The $21.7 billion annual economic cost — estimated from 2016 analysis and consistently cited — captures direct costs to health services, the justice system, and emergency accommodation, plus the productivity losses and long-term health consequences that cascade through every sector of the economy for years after the violence has ended.

FDV Offenders & Police Data in Australia 2026

FDV Offenders Recorded by Police — Australia (National FDV Data, 2019–20 to 2024–25)
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2019–20 (baseline)    |████████████████████████████████             | Baseline year
2020–21               |█████████████████████████████████            | Year 2
2021–22               |██████████████████████████████████           | 88,377 (6% increase)
2022–23               |████████████████████████████████████         | 88,377 — up 8% from prior year
2023–24               |████████████████████████████████████████     | ~90,700
2024–25 (latest ABS)  |████████████████████████████████████████████ | 97,800 — HIGHEST on record

FDV offender rate 2024–25: 403 per 100,000 — highest since 2019–20
Total offenders proceeded against by police (all crime, 2024–25): 344,620
FDV share of all offenders (2022–23): 25% of all offenders nationally
Male FDV offenders: 78% | Female: 22% | Median age: 35 years

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics — Family and Domestic Violence Offenders Rise by 8% (abs.gov.au, March 18, 2026); PM&C — Gender-Based Violence in Australia at a Glance (pmc.gov.au, August 2024); NSW Government — National Partnership $47.8 Million (nsw.gov.au)

The March 2026 ABS release is one of the most significant data moments in the Australian domestic violence evidence base in years — not because it reveals something new, but because it quantifies with unprecedented clarity the direction the trend line is moving. At 97,800 FDV offenders recorded in 2024–25, Australia is now experiencing the highest annual count and rate since national data collection commenced. The ABS’s head of crime and justice statistics, Samantha Hall, was unambiguous: “This was the largest annual increase in FDV offenders since national reporting began in 2019–20.” The +8% jump in a single year adds approximately 7,100 additional offenders to the system — individuals whose violence generated a police response, a recorded incident, and a proceeding. Behind each of those offenders is a victim, and behind many of those victims are children who witnessed the violence.

The 53% share of all police-recorded assaults nationally that are FDV-related — documented in the PM&C August 2024 data — is perhaps the single figure that most effectively communicates the structural dominance of domestic violence within Australia’s overall crime picture. More than half of every assault recorded by police nationally occurs in a family and domestic violence context. This is not a niche subcategory of crime requiring specialist attention. It is the central, defining feature of Australia’s assault landscape. When legal assistance services processed 379,265 clients with FDV-related needs in 2024–25 — a 2% increase on the prior year — the scale of the downstream service demand that these offender numbers generate becomes tangible.

Domestic Violence Homicides in Australia 2026

Intimate Partner Homicide — Australia (AIHW Data, 2024–25)
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Domestic homicide rate (2024–25)            |██████                                   | 0.36/100,000
IPH rate (2024–25)                          |████                                     | 0.21/100,000
IPH rate improvement vs 2023–24             |████████████████████████████████████████ | -35.6%
IPH rate vs 1989–90                         |████████████████████████████████████████ | Down >50% since 1989–90

Rate by gender:
Women killed every (avg, 2024–25)           |████████████████████████████████████████ | Every 11 days
Men killed every (avg, 2024–25)             |████████████████████████████████         | Every 26 days

First Nations disparity:
Indigenous female IPH rate                  |████████████████████████████████████████ | 3.07/100,000
Non-Indigenous female IPH rate              |████████                                 | 0.45/100,000
Ratio                                       |████████████████████████████████████████ | 6.8× higher risk

Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare — Domestic Homicide (aihw.gov.au, updated April 2026); Australian Government Status of Women Report Card 2026 (genderequality.gov.au, March 6, 2026); PM&C — A National Emergency and an Ongoing National Priority (pmc.gov.au, August 2024); Australian Institute of Criminology — Australia Sees Rise in Female Intimate Partner Homicide (aic.gov.au, April 2024); AIHW — FDSV Summary (aihw.gov.au, April 23, 2026)

The domestic homicide data for 2024–25 provides the most recent direct evidence of both the severity of the crisis and the genuine progress being made against it. The 35.6% decline in the intimate partner homicide rate between 2023–24 and 2024–25 is the largest single-year improvement in the measure in recent history, and it follows what had been an alarming upward trajectory: 58 women killed in 2023 (up from 35 in 2022 and 33 in 2021), a spike that prompted the Prime Minister’s April 2024 national crisis declaration and the convening of National Cabinet as an emergency response. The subsequent improvement to 28 women killed by an intimate partner in 2025 is statistically significant — but it is worth holding clearly in mind that 28 deaths still means, on average, one woman killed every 13 days by a current or former partner. The AIHW’s calculation of one every 11 days for 2024–25 reflects the full financial year averaging. At either calculation, it represents a toll that no comparable wealthy nation should accept as normal.

The First Nations disparity is the most acute and persistent inequality in Australia’s domestic violence data. At a rate of 3.07 per 100,000 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, compared to 0.45 per 100,000 for non-Indigenous women, the Indigenous female intimate partner homicide risk is 6.8 times higher than for non-Indigenous Australians — a gap that has persisted across decades of data collection, survived multiple national action plans, and reflects structural intersections of historical trauma, over-policing, under-resourcing of services, geographic isolation, and systemic failures that cannot be addressed by law enforcement responses alone. Nearly 1 in 3 female intimate partner homicide victims in 2025 identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, in a population that represents approximately 3.2% of all Australian women. The new “Our Ways – Strong Ways – Our Voices” National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Plan to End Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence 2026–2036, released in February 2026, is the federal government’s direct policy response to this disparity — but closing a 6.8× gap in a decade will require a scale and consistency of investment that has eluded every previous plan.

Domestic Violence Prevalence & Demographics in Australia 2026

Lifetime Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Prevalence — Australia (ABS PSS 2021–22)
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Women with lifetime IPV (physical/sexual)  |████████████████████████████████████████| 17% (ABS PSS 2021–22)
Women with lifetime IPV (all forms)        |████████████████████████████████████████| 23% — Status of Women 2026
Men with lifetime partner violence         |█████                                    | 5.5%
Women experiencing sexual violence (life)  |████████████████████████                 | 22%
LGBTQIA+ experiencing sexual assault       |████████████████████████████████████████| 49%
People with disability: phys/sex abuse     |████████████████████████████████████████| 55%
Childhood abuse/parental violence (adults) |████████████████████████████████████████| 22% of Australian adults
12-month IPV prevalence (2021–22)          |████                                     | 1.1% (down from 1.8% in 2016)
Women aged 25–34: hospitalised IPV assault |████████████████████████████████████████| Highest rate of any age group

Source: ABS Personal Safety Survey 2021–22 (abs.gov.au, released March 2023); Australian Government Status of Women Report Card 2026 (genderequality.gov.au, March 6, 2026); AIHW — Intimate Partner Violence (aihw.gov.au); Our Watch — Quick Facts (ourwatch.org.au); PM&C — Gender-Based Violence in Australia at a Glance (pmc.gov.au, August 2024); Safe and Equal — Family Violence Statistics (safeandequal.org.au)

The prevalence data from the ABS Personal Safety Survey and the 2026 Status of Women Report Card draws a portrait of intimate partner violence in Australia that is both more widespread and more uneven than headline figures suggest. The 23% lifetime intimate partner violence rate for women — meaning nearly 1 in 4 Australian women has experienced physical or sexual violence by a partner since age 15 — is the defining statistic of the national experience, and the one that has driven the “national crisis” political framing since 2024. But the disaggregated data reveals the most important stories: women aged 25–34 face the highest rates of hospitalisation from IPV assault, making them the most acutely at-risk demographic within an already high-risk population; women with disability are significantly more likely to experience emotional abuse by a partner than women without disability; and LGBTQIA+ people face a 49% lifetime sexual assault rate that far exceeds the general population — yet community-specific services remain chronically underfunded relative to need.

The 1.1% 12-month IPV prevalence rate in 2021–22 — down from 1.8% in 2016 — represents genuine improvement in recent-period violence against women, even as the police-recorded offender count rises. The divergence between falling survey-based prevalence and rising police-recorded offenders is well understood by researchers: it may reflect better reporting and help-seeking behaviours, improved police recording practices, and lower tolerance in communities for non-reporting. It does not mean violence is comprehensively declining. The Composite Abuse Scale national survey finding that 48.4% of women experienced at least one form of IPV — with 33.7% experiencing multitype IPV involving more than one category of abuse — confirms that when the definition of IPV extends beyond physical and sexual violence to include emotional, economic, and coercive control dimensions, the prevalence picture is substantially larger than the ABS’s physical/sexual violence measure alone captures.

Domestic Violence Funding & Government Response in Australia 2026

Australian Government Domestic Violence Funding — 2022–2026
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Total investment in women's safety (since Oct 2022 Budget) |████████████████████████████████████████| $4 billion+
National Cabinet priorities — gender-based violence        |████████████████████████████████████████| $534.5 million
1800RESPECT total funding (to June 2027)                   |████████████████████████████████████████| $146.8 million
First Nations FDSV services (2025–26, 2 years)             |████████████████████████████████████████| $21.8 million
National Partnership funding (NPA 2023–25)                 |████████████████████████████████████████| $47.8 million
Cross-Examination Parties Scheme (8 years)                 |████████████████████████████████████████| $89.29 million
First Nations safety initiatives (total, incl. Close Gap)  |████████████████████████████████████████| $395 million+

Source: Australian Government Budget 2025–26 — Opportunity and Equality (budget.gov.au); Working for Women — Commonwealth Actions to Progress Gender Equality (genderequality.gov.au, 2026); Department of Social Services — National Plan to End Violence (dss.gov.au, February 2026); Attorney-General’s Department — Family Violence (ag.gov.au, December 2025); AIHW — Policy and International Context (aihw.gov.au); NSW Government — National Partnership $47.8 Million; SA Office for Women — Safety and Wellbeing; Our Watch Quick Facts

The over $4 billion in women’s safety investment since the October 2022 Budget represents the largest sustained government commitment to domestic and family violence prevention in Australian history. It spans the spectrum of intervention — from the $534.5 million in National Cabinet priority funding for gender-based violence responses, to the $146.8 million secured for 1800RESPECT through June 2027, to the $47.8 million NPA targeting frontline response, early intervention, and workforce capability simultaneously. The $89.29 million Cross-Examination Parties Scheme — which provides legal representatives so that domestic violence victims cannot be directly cross-examined by their abusers in court — addresses one of the most documented forms of secondary trauma in the justice system, a reform that took years of advocacy to achieve and now operates nationally under a funded model. The new South Australia strangulation offence, effective from May 2025, carrying a maximum 10-year jail term, reflects the growing legislative recognition — backed by homicide research showing strangulation is one of the most reliable predictors of future lethal violence — that choking in a DV context must be treated as a serious violent crime in its own right rather than a subset of common assault.

The launch of the standalone First Nations plan — “Our Ways – Strong Ways – Our Voices: National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Plan to End Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence 2026–2036” — in February 2026 represents a structural policy shift of real significance. Previous First Nations DV interventions operated within or alongside mainstream national plans. This standalone framework, developed in full co-design with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and organisations, acknowledges explicitly that the 6.8× higher intimate partner homicide risk for First Nations women cannot be addressed through mainstream frameworks adapted at the margins. It requires its own theory of change, its own accountability mechanisms, and its own investment streams. The Closing the Gap Target 13 goal of a 50% reduction in family violence against Aboriginal people by 2031 provides a hard, measurable endpoint against which progress can be tracked — though the gap between current rates and that target remains substantial, and the five-year timeline is aggressive given decades of insufficient progress.

Disclaimer: This research report is compiled from publicly available sources. While reasonable efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, no representation or warranty, express or implied, is given as to the completeness or reliability of the information. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions, losses, or damages of any kind arising from the use of this report.

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