Sex assault, motor car theft cases in Tasmania reach new record high

Car theft and sex assault cases have dramatically increased in Tasmania, with experts warning it won’t stop without “urgent attention”.

Almost 90 people a day were sexually assaulted around Australia last year with Tasmania recording a huge 53 per cent jump in the number of victims.

The shocking figures also show nationally there has been a 13 per cent jump to a total of 31,118 victims the highest number ever recorded since the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) started keeping crime data records 29 years ago.

The ABS Recorded Victims of Crime Report 2021 released on Thursday shows around the country there were six times more female victims of sexual assault than males.

And alarmingly, more than half of all victims were female and aged under 18 at the time of the attacks – targeted in homes, at times, during Covid restrictions. More than 80 per cent of victims were female.

More than a third, 11,367, were recorded as family and domestic violence-related victim-survivors.

In Tasmania, there were 470 victims of sexual assault recorded, an increase of 53 per cent or 163 more victims since 2020. This was the highest recorded number for the state since the crime data series began.

The report shows most sexual assaults in Tasmania took place at a residential location and did not involve the use of a weapon. Most of the victims were female, knew the offender, and were aged under 18 years at the date of attack.

Around two in five or 39 per cent, 181 victims, were family and domestic violence related.

Among the highest increases in sex assaults around the country were in Queensland where the number of victims jumped 35 per cent, followed by Victoria up 12 per cent, and Western Australia 17 per cent. The Northern Territory was the only jurisdiction to record a drop in the number of sex assaults.

The ABS’s Head of Crime and Justice Statistics William Milne said the number sexual assaults across the country in 2021, was the largest number recorded by police.

Mr Milne said it is the 10th year in a row the number of sexual assault victims has increased.

Females aged between 15 and 19 are most at risk of sexual assault and males of that age are most likely to be the perpetrators, according to Full Stop Australia.

Hayley Foster, chief executive of Full Stop Australia, which advocates on behalf of sexual assault victims, said its services saw an increase in calls regarding intrafamilial sexual assaults during Covid lockdowns.

“Sadly, these figures are not a surprise to us,” Ms Foster said.

However, while they saw an increase in intrafamilial abuse increased during the pandemic, she said the majority of under 18s who are sexually assaulted are assaulted by their partners and she said that was probably still the case during lockdown.

She said females aged between 15 and 19 are most at risk of sexual assault and males of that age are most likely to be the perpetrators.

Ms Foster said partners were allowed to visit home during lockdowns too.

She said that while Queensland recorded the highest increase, it may be down to better awareness of what sexual assault was and an improved confidence in the police and justice system to report incidents.

“Sexual assault is the fastest growing serious crime in the country,” Ms Foster said.

“This is a crisis that requires urgent attention and proper funding.”

Murders across the nation dropped seven per cent to the lowest rate since 1993 with only 370 victims of homicide and related offences – murder, attempted murder and manslaughter.

In Tasmania there were just nine murders in 2021. The number of assaults increased four per cent, 140 more victims to a total of 3,559 victims in 2021.

There were 125 victims of robbery an increase of 28 victims from the previous year.

Most robberies, 71 per cent, were against people, while the rest were organisations.

There were 6,599 victims of other theft in 2021, an increase of nine per cent.

The number of victims of unlawful entry with intent fell by eight per cent, or 215 victims from 2020 to 2,496 victims. This was the lowest number of victims recorded across the twenty-nine year crime data time series.

Motor vehicle thefts jumped 22 per cent to 1,207 victims.

This increase follows the lowest number of recorded victims for this offence in 2020, 986 victims, coinciding with the introduction of COVID-19 restrictions.

Over half of all motor vehicles were stolen from an outbuilding or residential land including a driveway, carport, or garage.

Criminal psychologist Tim Watson-Munroe said the rise in sexual assaults could be “multi-factorial” - impacted on by the lack of mobility during Covid which also reduced the opportunities for random sex assaults.

“People are psychologically frustrated, their futures are uncertain, I think alcohol use and drug use escalated, with people self-medicating at home, and could have had some effect” said Dr Watson-Munroe.

The rise in other crimes including blackmail and extortion may be due to increased cybercrime and cyber stalking.

“People are getting random threats to expose them. Extortion is a function of the times. People are suffering out there and desperate times call for desperate measures for some people…,” said Dr Watson-Munroe.

“I think society is unravelling and there is an anarchistic attitude from some people. Some of the drivers (of crime) we are seeing are from desperate people.”

Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said the data was “sobering, particularly that the majority increase relates to children”.

“We know that as awareness of family, domestic and sexual violence increases, so too will reporting,” she added.

“I’m committed to working with my state and territory colleagues to finalise the next National Plan to reduce and ultimately end family, domestic and sexual violence.

“We don’t want the next generation of women and children to have to deal with this scourge.”

If you or anyone you know is in need or crisis please call the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) or Lifeline 131 114.

Originally published as Sex assault, motor car theft cases in Tasmania reach new record high