Specialised Responses

Research indicated that First Nations people in Australia are five times more likely to be impacted by DFV (Langton, et al., 2020).

Children and young people can be direct or indirect victims of DFAV. Some types of direct and indirect victimisation can include:

Abuse of older people is the harmful treatment of a person over 65 years old by a trusted individual. Like other forms of DFV, it can include physical, psychological, emotional, social, financial or sexual abuse. It can also include neglect.

DFV can happen to any person in any type of relationship. Research indicates that LGBTQ+ people experience DFAV at similar rates to the general population.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2020) have found that people with disabilities face higher rates of emotional abuse, sexual violence, physical violence, and intimate partner violence.

Experiences of DFV for victim/survivors from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds are often complex.

According to research by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) (2021) and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (2017), one in 16 men have experienced physical or sexual abuse by a current or former partner and one in six men have experienced emotional abuse by a current or former partner.

Men are more likely to use DFV. However, DFV occurs throughout all age, socio economic, and demographic groups and across genders.