The Albanese Labor Government is committed to progressing our shared ambition to end violence against women and children in Australia in one generation. One life lost to intimate partner homicide is too many.
We know that to end violence, we must be able to measure it. Understanding the scale of the issue with accurate, verified, closer to real-time data is critical.
To assist, today the Government is announcing the implementation of a new statistical dashboard which will provide more timely reporting on intimate partner homicide.
The dashboard is being announced on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, which marks the beginning of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence.
Currently, official reporting on intimate partner homicide is sourced from the Australian Institute of Criminology’s National Homicide Monitoring Program (NHMP) and is updated annually. The NHMP is Australia’s only national data collection on homicide incidents, victims, and offenders.
The new dashboard, with quarterly updates initially, will enable police, governments, policy makers and all those who are working to end violence against women and children, to better understand what is happening and when.
The most recent NHMP data available for 2020-21 indicates one woman dies every 14 days at the hands of her former or current partner.
According to the NHMP, approximately 60 per cent of adult female victims of homicide in Australia are the victim of murder or manslaughter by their current or former intimate partner.
The NHMP’s work supports the ambition of the 2022-2032 National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children’s to reduce female IPH by 25 per cent each year, and goes hand-in-hand with the record $2.3 billion investment made by this Government to take action on family, domestic and sexual violence through prevention, early intervention, responses and supporting recovery and healing.
It also supports the efforts of law enforcement, the family, domestic and sexual violence sector and policy makers to develop priority responses.
“One life lost to intimate partner homicide, is one too many,” said the Minister for Women, Senator Katy Gallagher.
“Up-to-date and accurate data is crucial to supporting us in our efforts to end this violence and ensure women’s safety.”
“This is an issue that requires a whole of community response and on IDEVAW, and all days, I encourage everyone to consider how they can take action to end violence against women.”
Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth said the scale of the violence experienced by women and children in Australia ripples out across all parts of society.
“We are all deeply disturbed by the ongoing news that women are dying on a frequent basis at the hands of their current or former partner,” Minister Rishworth said.
“Our work in helping to end this violence is constant. However, the 16 Days of Activism provide a moment for us to reflect on new and innovative ways we can work together to see the change we need to end this.
“Accurate, verified, closer-to-real time data will be crucial to our efforts and I’m pleased that this dashboard will soon be in operation.”
“All of Australia has felt the devastating consequences of intimate partner violence on families and communities acutely in recent times,” Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said.
“The up-to-date and public reporting of female intimate partner violence enables greater public transparency of incidents, particularly for women, so we are better equipped to address this problem.”
“Our Government is committed to reducing the number of female victims of homicide in Australia and we cannot act on what we don’t know. I look forward to working alongside the states and territories to implement this important work.”
The dashboard will be released by mid-2024 and will be managed by the AIC.