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Centre for Non Violence chief executive Margaret Augerinos says more must be done to prevent family violence after data from the Crime Statistic Agency showed an increase in family violence incidents.
Data showed family violence crimes increased by 24 per cent in the 12 months to June 30 with 2528 family incidents reported to police.
Increases were also recorded in the Campaspe (7.3 per cent), Loddon (30.5 per cent) and Mount Alexander (5.8 per cent) regions. Central Goldfields and Macedon Ranges shires both saw a decrease in reported family violence incidents.
"We expected numbers to increase as we came out of lockdowns and women had more opportunities to connect with services, which many were unable to do while at home with the person abusing them," she said.
"We have also seen good results from Victoria Police as a result of Operation Ribbon, which was introduced at the beginning of COVID-19 for officers to actively check in on those at high risk of family violence.
"We know perpetrators were finding new ways of abusing women and breaching intervention orders because of the pandemic, including pressuring the victim to allow him to return to the home because he was unemployed or without housing."
Ms Augerinos said the high rates of abuse and deaths connected to family violence will continue until a change in attitudes that condone or excuse disrespect or violence against women is seen.
"Too many women and children are not safe to make their own choices about their lives," she said. "We work with women and children every day who live in fear of what may happen to them."
Long-term funding, solutions tailoered to rural and regional areas and consultations with experts about where resources should be are some of the solutions Ms Augerinos would like to see.
"Smaller regional shires are not necessarily better off as a result of the Royal Commission into Family Violence, not much has changed for some communities," she said. "How do we prioritise some of these challenging areas around resource gaps?
"The funding model is a problem. We need genuine consultation on how funding can be used in regional areas, and capacity to tailor programs to suit local needs.
"And we need acknowledgement that in many regional areas we can't recruit to six-month or short-term roles - people are not going to give up permanent, ongoing positions to come here, we need to give them certainty."
If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, family or domestic violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit www.1800RESPECT.org.au. In an emergency, call 000.
Earlier:
CRIMES of family violence rose by almost 24 per cent across the City of Greater Bendigo in the past financial year, up from 2040 to 2528 reported incidents.
Breaches of family violence orders surged by 16 per cent in the year to June 30, 2021, according to Crime Statistics Agency data released today.
Overall, crime reported in Greater Bendigo fell by three per cent, with 8003 reported criminal incidents in the year to June 30, 2021, compared to 8266 the previous year.
Bendigo's comparative of 6562 crimes per 100,000 head of population is the lowest for the region since 2018, but above the state average of 5673.
Statewide, recorded offences rate decreased 3.7 per cent to 7,823.3 per 100,000 Victorians in the last 12 months, as did the number of offences, down four per cent to 522,486.
The largest increase in the last 12 months was observed for public health and safety offences (up 26,446 to 32,561 offences), the majority of which were breaches of Chief Health Officer directions related to the COVID-19 public health response.
Breach family violence order offences also increased statewide (up 7,236 to 55,252 offences).
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Alleged offender incidents increased by 15.4% (26,113 incidents) to 195,705 in the last 12 months, the rate also increased by 15.6% to 3,334.4 per 100,000 Victorians.
There were 31,971 alleged offender incidents related to public health (the vast majority were for breaches of CHO directions) an increase of 457 per cent or 26,175 incidents.
Family incidents increased 5.9 per cent in the last 12 months to 93,440 incidents, as did the rate of family incidents, also up by 6.2 per cent to 1,399 incidents per 100,000 Victorians.
CSA Chief Statistician Fiona Dowsley said the decreases in the key crime measures, Recorded offences, Criminal incidents and Victim reports, have coincided with COVID-19-related restrictions on movement.
"The volume decrease during this time has been observed largely in the acquisitive and more opportunistic crime types such as thefts.
"Conversely there have been increases in breaches of orders including family violence orders and Chief Health Officer directions. "As a result, we continue to record higher numbers of alleged offenders in the last 12 months."
More to come...
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