Aussies Face High Rates of Assault, Low Reporting

0:00It's March 27, from your city to your ears. This is Sydney News Today, powered by AI. I'm Corey with the story. New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows almost 400,000 Australians face physical assault in the past 12 months. That's about 1.8% of the population, or more than 1,000 incidents each day. The survey covered over 25,000 people aged 15, and up from July 2024 to June 2025. Men and women experienced similar overall rates, with men at 2%, and women seeing a slight drop to 1.6% over the last decade. Women were more likely assaulted by family, partners, or known people, often multiple times, while men face strangers more often. Only 56% reported their latest incident to police, and attackers were male in over 80% of cases. Threats of assault affected even more people, with 463,000 facing them face to face, and another 140,000.

1:01Vehicles, texts, or social media. Women again more often knew their threatener. Sexual assaults hit 89,000 people, mostly women, down slightly to a half percent rate, but just 16% went to police. Property crimes keep falling after more than 20 years of decline. Break-ins struck 197,000 households, with thefts of vehicles, damage, and items from cars also dropping. Expert states steady at 67,000 cases. Experts point to economic and environmental factors for the property trends, while groups note sexual assault services are overwhelmed with demand. Despite low reporting, these figures highlight ongoing patterns in how Aussies encounter crime.