Dads on the Air........administration wrote:

The controversy over government misuse of taxpayers funds for domestic violence propaganda which villifies men as the sole abusers and paints women as the sole victims is set to increase with today's release of Australian Bureau of Statistics research showing one third or more of domestic violence is women perpetrators against men.

After heavy criticism from statisticians over the ABS's failure to ask men questions on domestic violence the ABS, which normally has a stirling repuation for scientific rigour, has this time round asked men whether or not they have been a victim of domestic violence.

Dads On The Air has regularly reported the worldwide condemnation by academics and numerous fathers groups of the serial misuse of statistics by the domestic violence industry and feminist advocates; who have latched on to domestic violence as proof of their theories of men as patriarchal abusers and women as their victims.

In hospitals in Sydney, NSW for instance, where Dads On The Air broadcasts from, women presenting to hospitals with injuries must by law be asked questions about domestic violence. Men presenting with injuries to hospitals are asked no such questions. The results - by law - are therefore completely skewed. This kind of sexist and offensive legislation to so blatantly doctor domestic violence statistics should be rescinded. This particular legislation regarding hospitals in NSW was introduced by the Labor Party, but both major parties in Australia have been guilty of propogating ill-informed and inaccurate publicity on domestic violence. Oddly enough, despite governments around the country spending many hundreds of millions on domestic violence every year, the problem allegedly only gets worse from year to year. This is because of the ever-expanding notion of what constitutes domestic violence. One survey showed, for instance, that seven per cent of the population now believe not talking to your partner at breakfast constitutes domestic violence. This is farcical.

No one is condoning domestic violence. But no social problem is solved by the one-eyed misuse of statistics or by the advocacy research common in this field.

For more information go to the ABS website: http://www.abs.gov.au/

http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mf/4906.0
4906.0 - Personal Safety, Australia (Re-issue), 2005
Latest ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 11/08/2006 Released Today

Details at the 4906.0 - Personal Safety, Australia, 2005 webpage.

Summary of Findings: Personal Safety Survey Report

Explanatory Notes: Personal Safety Survey Report

NB UNPUBLISHED STATISTICS

24 This publication does not include all the information available from the survey. Additional tables, providing more detail, or data items not included in this publication are available on request. The Glossary provides definitions of data items and terms used in the PSS. Personal Safety Survey, Australia: User Guide (cat. no. 4906.0.55.003), provides a comprehensive list of data items available from the survey. Users should be aware that as the level of disaggregation increases, the number of respondents contributing to data cells decreases, and so sample error increases. Further information about the survey and associated products can be obtained from the contact officer listed on the front of this publication.

Download a PDF (1.5MB) copy from ABS Personal Safety Survey

Download and read the accompanying User Guide (PDF, 1MB)

Also access and download Excel spreadsheet 'data cubes' of the source data

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Soula Macfarlane on Melbourne (03) 9615 7374.

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MEDIA RELEASE

10 August 2006 Embargoed 11:30am (AEST) 74/2006

First national personal safety survey released today: ABS

Today the Australian Bureau of Statistics released the results of the first national Personal Safety Survey presenting information about women's and men's experiences of violence.

For the 2005 Personal Safety Survey violence was defined as any incident involving the occurrence, attempt or threat of either physical or sexual assault.

The 2005 Personal Safety Survey found that most Australian adults (95% of men and 83% of women) felt safe at home after dark. About one in 20 women (5.8%) and one in 10 men (11%) reported experiencing violence in the 12 months prior to the survey. Since the age of 15, 40% of women and 50% of men reported experiencing at least one incident of violence.

Physical violence: Approximately one in 10 men (10%) and one in 20 women (4.7%) experienced physical violence (includes being threatened or assaulted) in the 12 months prior to the survey.

Men aged between 18-24 years were most likely to be physically assaulted (43%).

The most common location for physical assaults to occur for women was in the home irrespective of the sex of the perpetrator (64% of physical assaults were by male perpetrators and 38% of physical assaults were by female perpetrators).

Men who were physically assaulted by a male perpetrator were more likely to have been assaulted at licensed premises (34%) or in the open (35%), however if the perpetrator was female then 77% of the physical assaults occurred in the home.

Family members or friends were the most likely perpetrators of physical assault on women (37%) and strangers were more likely to physically assault men (66%).

In the 12 months prior to the 2005 survey 35% of men and 36% of women who experienced physical assault by a male perpetrator reported these incidents to the police.

Sexual violence: In the 12 months prior to the survey it was found that 1.6% of women (or 126,100 women) and 0.6% of men (46,700 men) experienced sexual violence (includes being threatened or assaulted).

Just under one-third (31%) of those who experienced sexual assault were aged between 25-34 years old. The most likely perpetrators of sexual assault were family members or friends (39% for women and 44% for men).

The survey also found that:
An estimated 27% of men and 56% women reported being harassed at some stage in their lifetime.
Approximately one in ten men (9%) and one in five women (19%) had been stalked at some stage in their lifetime.

Experience of violence(a) and feelings of safety - during the last 12 months 2005 Personal Safety Survey 1996 Women's Safety Survey(b)
Men Women Women
% % %
Experienced violence 808,300 10.8 443,800 5.8 490,400 7.1
Physical violence 779,800 10.4 363,000 4.7 404,400 5.9
Physical assault 485,400 6.5 242,000 3.1 346,900 5.0
Physical threat 392,800 5.3 162,400 2.1 284,000 4.1
Sexual violence 46,700 0.6 126,100 1.6 133,100 1.9
Sexual assault 42,300 0.6 101,600 1.3 100,000 1.5
Sexual threat **5,700 0.1 34,900 0.5 44,800 0.7
Felt unsafe at home alone after dark 281,900 3.8 1,029,400 13.4 1,471,500 21.4
Felt unsafe using public transport alone after dark 404,600 5.4 544,800 7.1 384,800 5.6

(a) A person who experienced violence during the last 12 months could have experienced violence more than once. The components when added together may therefore be larger than the total.

(b) Results presented are from the 1996 Women's Safety Survey (ABS cat. no. 4128.0).

** estimate has a standard error greater than 50% and is considered too unreliable for general use.

Funding for the women's component of the 2005 Personal Safety Survey was provided through the National Initiative to Combat Sexual Assault and Partnerships Against Domestic Violence - Australian Government initiatives administered by the Office for Women (OfW). The male component was funded by the ABS.

Further details are in Personal Safety Survey: Summary of Results, Australia 2005 (cat. no. 4906.0)