Domestic violence in Australia larger than first thought: study

Domestic violence in Australia may be bigger than once thought as one in four women have experienced violence from an intimate partner while almost half a million children have witnessed violence. according to a new report released here Thursday.

Australia is currently grappling with how to tackle domestic violence, an epidemic described as a "national disgrace" by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull after being dragged onto the national agenda by victim, domestic violence campaigner and Australian of the Year Rosie Batty.

Batty's son Luke, 11, died at the hand of his father who was subject of a police control order and had a history of mental illness in front of horrified onlookers while at a junior cricket training session in early 2014.

Report author Peta Cox, from Australia's National Organization for Women's Safety (ANROWS), said her study broadened the scope of a 2012 Australian Bureau of Statistics survey to include "intimate partners" such as boyfriends, girlfriends and date relationships.

The survey estimated one in six women had experienced domestic violence within a married or de-facto relationship.

Cox's broadened report found 2.2 million Australian women had been assaulted by a male partner, most likely a man they lived with. Nine out of ten of the attacks happened within their own home.

The report also found children were significantly affected with 500,000 women reporting their children had seen or heard an assault and 400,000 women experienced violence from their partner while pregnant.

"It's alarming to know that children are exposed to violence, because we do know that children, even if they're not directly abused, or even if they're not directly witnessing violence, we know that those children are harmed by it," ANROWS chief executive Heather Nancarrow told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation early Thursday.

"We know that even children who are unborn children are affected, brain development is affected by exposure to stress associated with violence towards the mother."

Governments at various levels in Australia, in particular the state of New South Wales (NSW), have come under considerable fire in the past year for changing domestic violence structures which saw dozens of specialist women's shelters closed or merged into generalist homelessness services, to the detriment of victims as suggested by the report.

Almost 82,000 women reported wanting to leave a current violent partner but not doing so at the time the survey was taken, while one in twelve returned to an abusive relationship because they had nowhere else to go.

Earlier in October, the NSW government announced a dramatic change to its approach from victim support to focusing on perpetrators and seeking a reduction in reoffending rates.

"Domestic violence is a cowardly, insidious act," NSW Premier Mike Baird said at the time.

So far this year, 63 women in Australia have been killed in attacks linked to domestic violence.

Cox however conceded the report did not delve deeper into issues of violence against men.

"This report is focused on women's experiences of violence. But we do acknowledge there is lots of debate about the experiences of both men and women," Cox said.

"The equivalent statistic would be that one in six women have experienced violence by a partner that they live with, and one in 20 men have experienced violence by a partner they live with." Enditem