There has been an urgent call for action after new research found a sharp increase in violence and sexual violence against Australian children.
The University of Sydney study found that between 2014 and 2024, both sexual assault and family-related violence increased sharply.
The rate of violence has accelerated even more in the past three to five years, the study found.
It attributed the surge to the cost-of-living crisis, rising household income inequality, impacts from the Covid pandemic, and an increase in reporting violence.
The research found that shifts in gender norms, such as a “resurgence in traditional gender hierarchies and beliefs in male dominance” had established further risk of violence against women and children.
Gaps in services and increased demand for resources had also contributed to the increasing family domestic violence (FDV), the study found.
“Many FDV services have reported rising demand without an increase in resourcing, and there are long delays in treatment for mental health and substance use,” the study read.
“When families can’t access early support, treatment, or crisis intervention, violence may escalate or persist for longer, leading to it being picked up in the statutory systems from which we sourced our data.”
The rate of sexual violence against girls until the age of 17 rose at a steady rate.
But the rate of violence against boys rose sharply from 2021, with a more than 50 per cent increase in the span of three years.
Specifically, there has been a 57 per cent increase in family and domestic violence against boys under the age of seven in 10 years.
Family-related violence against boys and girls also increased at a worryingly fast rate, with increases ranging from 8 to 20 per cent between 2020 and 2024.
Matilda Centre lead author Lucy Grummitt said the rate of violence against children was reaching a “crisis point”.
“Sexual assault and family and domestic violence have increased over the decade, but what’s particularly concerning is that the steepest increases were in the last three to five years,” Dr Grummitt said.
She called for the federal and state governments to urgently increase investment in prevention and early detection.
“We need greater investment in prevention and early intervention so that we don’t see so many children suffering at the very extreme end of the spectrum,” Dr Grummitt said.
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