PEOPLE living outside major cities are 1.4 times as likely to have experienced partner violence than their urban counterparts a report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has found.
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The AIHW report shed light on family, domestic and sexual violence in Australia, compiling data from sources across the country.
Among the most vulnerable to violence are: children, young women, older Australians, people with disabilities, people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer, those in rural and remote Australia, socioeconomically disadvantaged people, people from multicultural communities and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Seven per cent more women living outside major cities have experienced violence from a current or previous partner since the age of 15 than within major cities. Twenty-three per cent of of women outside major cities had experienced violence, compared to 15 per cent within major cities.
For men the difference in likelihood was less than one per cent.
Those living in remote and very remote Australia were 24 times more likely to be hospitalised for domestic violence, the report found.
Living in these areas also restricted a victim's ability to leave a violent relationship, access informal support, such as that from family and friends, and formal support such as from police.
Higher rates of alcohol consumption and greater access to firearms were prevalent in rural communities, both of which increased the risk of partner violence.
Both men and women experienced family, domestic and sexual violence, but women it at a higher rate, the report found.
Seventeen per cent, or 1.6 million, women have experienced physical or sexual violence from a current or previous partner since they were 15.
Just over six per cent of men, or 548,000, have experienced the same.
Fifty per cent of women have been sexually harassed since they were 15, while 25 per cent of men had experienced the same.
One in four women, and one in six men, have experienced emotional abuse by a current or previous partner.
Eighteen per cent of women have experienced sexual violence since they were 15. Nearly five per cent of men had.
Those living in the poorest areas of Australia were the most likely to experience family violence.
People in the most disadvantaged areas were 1.5 times as likely to experience partner violence than those living in the areas of least disadvantage.
Indigenous adults were 32 times more likely to be hospitalised for family violence than non-Indigenous adults.
People with a disability were 1.8 times more likely to have experienced physical or sexual violence from a partner in the previous year.
Those who identified as being LGBTIQ were 1.7 times more likely to have experienced workplace sexual harassment than those identifying as heterosexual in the five tears before the survey.
Domestic violence in relationships
One woman is killed every nine days by a partner. A man is killed by a partner every 29 days.
Women were more likely to be killed during a period of separation from their partner, the report found.
A quarter of female victims held a current domestic violence order when they were murdered.
Violence in relationships often began during a separation period, even in relationships where there was no history of it. One in two women who experienced violence from a previous partner had experienced it when temporarily separated from that partner, the same was true for two in five men. About one in seven women experienced violence for the first time during a separation period.
Emotional abuse is the most common leading up to a domestic violence homicide.
Women aged between 15 and 34 were 2.7 times more likely to have experienced intimate partner violence than those aged over 35.
Many people stay in violent relationships, the report found. Fifty-three per cent of women and 77 per cent of men living in relationships where they had experienced physical or sexual violence did not want to leave that relationship.
Three in 10 women who have experienced violence from their partner temporarily separated, but then returned.
Their reasons include promises from partners to stop assaults or threats, wanting to work things out, saying they still loved their partner, and saying they wanted to resolve issues with their partner.
Family violence causes about one in three hospitalisations for assault.
Mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety, are the largest part of the disease burden which domestic violence causes for women aged over 15.
Domestic violence is the main cause of homelessness, it was estimated to cost $22 billion in 2015/16. Forty-two per cent of clients helped by homelessness services had experienced family or domestic violence in 2017-18.
While rates of partner violence and sexual violence have remained relatively stable since 2005, more people have accessed services for family, domestic and sexual violence, the report found.
There has been a 2.8 per cent rise per year of women hospitalised for assault where the perpetrator was reported as an intimate partner, from 2002/03 to 2016/17.
Rates were relatively stable among men.
Sexual violence
Young women aged 15-19 have the highest reported of sexual assault in Australia of any age group. Those women aged between 10 and 14 had the second highest rate.
Men were most likely to report sexual assault between the ages of 10 and 14, followed by the ages 15 to 19.
In 87 per cent of sexual assaults reported the perpetrator was known to the victim.
The perpetrator was an intimate partner in half of these incidents.
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