Domestic violence survivors being ‘terrorised’ across Australia, says Labor MP

An increase in domestic homicides across Australia has led to a push to reconsider perpetrators as ‘intimate partner terrorists.’

An increase in violent killings of women by current or former partners has revived calls for Australia to use stronger language to classify perpetrators, with some leaders saying domestic violence should be considered an act of terror.

It comes as Anthony Albanese ruled out holding a Royal Commission into violence against women after the nation recorded a significant rise in rates of intimate partner homicide.

According to the latest police data, rates of female partner homicide have increased by 28 per cent since 2022, with the vast majority of people murdered by a male intimate or ex-intimate partner being women.

Federal Labor minister Anne Aly says domestic violence was terrorising women. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Ahead of an urgent national cabinet meeting on Wednesday, federal Labor MP Anne Aly, a survivor of domestic violence, said while there are differences in legal definitions, it was crucial to recognise that many women were being terrorised.

“I think for women who are in that situation it is terrifying and it is terror,” Dr Aly told ABC.

“I’ve heard stories of women who have had to move from place to place, there’s a case of a woman who was moving from place to place, and couldn’t understand why he kept finding her, they found out that he was following her and [..] was camped out in the roof space above her.

“These are people who will go to pretty extreme lengths to terrorise and continue to abuse and inflict abuse and trauma on their victims.”

The new data relates to murder or manslaughter charges, murder-suicides, road accidents including driving causing death, and all over deaths ruled as homicide by police. Picture: Gaye Gerard/NCA NewsWire.

New statistics released by the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) have revealed that in the latest reporting period – from July 2022 to June 2023 – there were 232 homicide incidents recorded by state and territory authorities, a four per cent increase on the previous year.

Indigenous women are nearly seven times more likely to die at the hands of a current or former partner.

Following a wave of national rallies calling for more action towards gendered violence at the weekend, Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday his government was focused on implementing its national plan.

“There’s a royal commission underway in South Australia, NSW has considered a royal commission. You don’t want multiple inquiries into the same things across different jurisdictions,” Mr Albanese told reporters.

“Now there’s a range of responsibilities here when it comes to the justice system, the courts, bail laws, all of those issues, of course, by and large, state responsibilities.

“When it comes to community services by and large, they’re looked after by state taxes.”

Recent AIC figures showed the homicide victimisation rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in Australia was 3.07 per 100,000, compared with 0.45 per 100,000 for non-Indigenous women.

A wave of large-scale protests were held across Australia over the weekend: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman.

AIC Deputy Director Rick Brown said the latest figures were an important baseline to measure the federal government’s progress of achieving its goal of reducing rates of intimate partner homicide by 25 per cent in the next five years.

He noted that despite a recent increase, overall rates of homicide in Australia have dropped by 52 per cent since the late 1980s.

Between 2022-2023, about 69 per cent of homicide victims in Australia were men.

Indigenous men are more than eight times more likely to be killed in a homicide incident than non-Indigenous men, data showed.

Originally published as Domestic violence survivors being ‘terrorised’ across Australia, says Labor MP