Worst days for domestic violence in NSW revealed as offences reach record high

Domestic violence support agencies are calling for a crackdown on the availability of alcohol in NSW on public holidays to address an alarming spike in the number of domestic violence offences during festive periods.

A cocktail of booze and bad attitudes has been blamed for a spike in domestic violence during public holidays as new figures reveal almost 3000 offences were recorded in NSW during the latest Christmas and New Year’s Eve festive periods.

Domestic violence support agencies are calling for a crackdown on the availability of alcohol during public holidays in the wake of alarming new police data showing officers were called out to an average of 2.3 domestic and family violence incidents every minute during public holidays last year.

The figures, released by NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley, showed the number of offences during public holidays topped 6176 over the last 12 months – up from 5836 in the previous 12 month period.

The figures showed this year’s New Year’s Day holiday had the most number of offences with police responding to 851 domestic and family violence incidents.

Christmas Day in 2024 ranked second with 663 offences followed by Boxing Day in 2024 with 649 offences.

NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley.

New Year’s Day 2025 recorded the highest number of domestic violence related incidents. Picture: istock

Other public holidays where offences peaked included last year’s Australia Day holiday with police responding to 630 incidents.

The police figures show the number of offences on public holidays were as much as 52 per cent higher than the average number of domestic and family offences recorded in non-holiday periods in NSW, which typically average at 560 offences per day.

Jackie Fitzgerald, chief executive of the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics.

Domestic violence offences spiked during the New Year’s Day period.

Jackie Fitzgerald, chief executive of the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics which has researched the correlation between holiday periods and violence, said factors contributing to the spike in offending could include social gatherings and increased alcohol consumption.

“The early hours of New Year’s Day are particularly concerned with assaults peaking between midnight and 3am, reflecting the extended revelry of New Year’s Eve,” Ms Fitzgerald said.

Annabelle Daniel, chief executive of Women’s Community Shelters, said the increase in offending on public holidays placed additional strain on in-demand domestic and family violence shelters.

“While coercive control and domestic violence may be part of people’s everyday lives, it’s the combination of the proximity of family members to one another and alcohol that can lead to explosion in offences on public holidays and also during major sporting events,” she said.

Women's Community Shelters chief executive Annabelle Daniel.

“It’s often the days after public holidays we see an increase in requests for assistance (from people) who need to access safety.”

Ms Daniel has called for stronger regulations to address the ease of access to alcohol during public holidays including the delivery of alcohol to homes via only delivery platforms.

“One thing we’ve seen in recent times is online delivery has made access to alcohol easier and there’s also data showing a strong link between the number of bottle shops operating in certain areas to domestic violence,” she said.

“There are ways we could look at more regulation around public holidays in terms of delivery times and opening hours (of bottle shops) as well as education programs.”

Full Stop Australia chief executive Karen Bevan said it was “not surprising” to see increased offences during holiday periods.

“We know people are often at home or spending time with family over the long weekend – so that brings people together more and we know it can increase risk,” she said.

“Everyone in the sector is calling for increased resources to meet demand – that’s the only way we can really get ahead of these issues and support all victim-survivors with timely and specialist support.”

The figures come as separate annual crime data released this week by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics shows NSW recorded 38,272 domestic violence related assaults in 2024 – highest number since available records in 2015.

NSW Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence Jodie Harrison said the NSW Government was working with victim-survivors, experts and advocates to “urgently address the domestic and family violence crisis”.

“But government policy alone is not enough – to create lasting cultural change, we need every member of the community to join us in this work to create a safer NSW,” she said.

Opposition Police spokesman Paul Toole has called on the NSW Government to provide targeted campaigns and crackdowns on domestic violence during holiday periods.

Ms Catley said police take domestic and family violence “extremely seriously” and that “one incident of domestic and family violence is one too many”.

Originally published as Worst days for domestic violence in NSW revealed as offences reach record high