Justice Stocktake 2025

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Home | Family and Domestic Violence Issue

Family violence

Family and domestic violence is a major health and welfare issue across Australia. It can impact all people, of all ages, from all backgrounds, but mainly impacts women and children.

Family and domestic violence is not always physical. Financial abuse, verbal abuse, emotional abuse, and coercive control can be less obvious, but just as harmful as physical violence. All forms of family violence can cause immediate and long-term harm to victim-survivors as well as others, especially children, who witness it.

Gender inequality and inequity in Australia provide the underlying conditions for violence against women. Many of the drivers of family violence are “societal”, and how we, as a community and as individuals, respond to gender inequity and gender stereotypes can be a powerful force for change.

Family and domestic violence interacts with every other social justice issue in this report. It is the most prevalent reason women access homelessness services at The Salvation Army and is a major driver in youth homelessness. Experience and study also demonstrate that family and domestic violence is a significant cause of poverty for those who experience it.[1] Addressing the causes of family and domestic violence will have a flow-on effect in preventing other harm and injustices experienced by victim-survivors across Australia.

2 in 5 experienced violence

Two in five women (39 per cent) have experienced violence since the age of 15.[2]

1 woman murdered every week

On average in Australia one woman every week is murdered by her current or former partner.[3]

23 times more likely to be hospitalised

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are disproportionately impacted by family violence, and are 33 times more likely to be hospitalised than non-Indigenous women.[4]

Family and domestic violence is the leading driver of homelessness for women. In 2020-21, 116,200 of people who attended Specialist Homelessness Services reported they were escaping family violence.[5]

We have the power to make a difference

We can urge action from our governments

When victim-survivors seek help, we need to be able to help them. Governments can work together to ensure there is sufficient funding for crisis supports, and that those supports allow victim-survivors to be physically safe while continuing to be employed, pursue education and be connected.

Family violence is widespread but often misunderstood — we need to implement specialist training for key first responders to ensure they can correctly identify person/s in need of protection and respond with meaningful support options.

The most important support for a victim-survivor experiencing family violence is access to safe and secure housing — we need to increase the availability of suitable housing so that all victim-survivors can access support.

We can implement change in our community and our workplaces

Education is key. In our community groups and workplaces we can have safe but challenging conversations to ensure that people are equipped with the tools and resources to understand the nature of family and domestic violence as a pattern of behaviours over time.

We can also create environments where it is safe for employees and members to disclose family violence. This involves not just cultivating a safe culture but ensuring that leaders and managers have access to information, training and supervision so they are equipped to safely and compassionately connect people experiencing family violence to support.

We can have influence in our personal lives

We can challenge our own ideas and language around family violence and question when others use language that minimises or excuses violence within the family or home.

Everyone can call out negative behaviour. It is important to do so in a manner that doesn’t shame the victim, but you can always say “that’s not okay”.

  1. Summers, A. (2022). The Choice: Violence or Poverty. University of Technology Sydney. [Link] ↩︎

  2. Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2021-22). Personal Safety, Australia. ABS. [Link] ↩︎

  3. Bryant, W., & Bricknell, S. (2017). Homicide in Australia 2012-13 to 2013-14: National Homicide Monitoring Program report. Australian Institute of Criminology. [Link] ↩︎

  4. Commonwealth of Australia (Department of Social Services). (2023). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan 2023–2025: Under the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022–2032. [Link] ↩︎

  5. AHURI. (2022). Housing, homelessness and domestic violence. [Link] ↩︎

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