The 2013 State of Bendigo's Children Report shows there were 1165 family violence incidents reported to police in 2011-12 compared with 752 reports in 2010-11.

The State of Bendigo's Children Report is an initiative of The First Quarter Leadership Group and aims to identify and assess key factors associated with the well-being of children and their families.

The First Quarter Leadership Group's interim co-chair Kim Sykes from Bendigo Community Health Services said the report addressed areas where Bendigo was doing well and areas for improvement.

"As well as enabling us to get a really good picture of where we're at, this also shows us what data we haven't got and helps guide what questions we need to ask," she said.

"Family violence is a good example of that.

"Any family violence is a horrible thing - so the fact that anyone's exposed to it means there's work for all of us to do.

"However, people reporting it, if it does exist, is a very good thing."

Sergeant Mick McCrann of Bendigo police said there had been a significant increase in reporting of family violence.

"It's a trend that shows the changing in the way that society no longer accepts family violence," he said.

"We certainly encourage people that are aware of family violence to contact police by calling 000.

"As time goes on we will see increased reporting and less and less tolerance for family violence because society already knows it needs to know its standards to stamp out this from occurring."