More than 160,000 people are estimated to have experienced family violence in Victoria across 2015-16, costing society $5.3bn, an independent report prepared for the state government says.
The report from auditing firm KPMG to be published on Friday will show that the cost of responding to this violence was $1.8bn to the state and federal governments , while the cost borne by individuals and their families was an estimated at $2.6bn.
Lost income was estimated at $333m, while the cost of pain, suffering and premature mortality was estimated to be $2.2bn.
“This includes costs associated with the long-term health impacts of family violence, and the increased risk of mental ill-health,” the report found.
“This therefore includes long-term physical impacts as well as psychological impacts and non-physical effects. These impacts may extend well beyond experiences of violence, with increased feelings of fear and anxiety among victim survivors.”
Damage to personal property was estimated at $52m.
“The impacts can also be more significant where victim survivors may not have adequate financial means to replace or repair damaged property, thus contributing to further impacts to people’s standard of living,” the report found.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were at higher risk of experiencing violence and were less likely to report violence, the report said. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were often not asked about their cultural background when accessing services, including police and courts.
However, by using data that did exist from government agencies, and through consultations with stakeholders, KPMG estimated family violence experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders cost $330m across 2015-16.
Between 2008-09 and 2013-14, the number of police-recorded family violence incidents relating to that group increased by 100.6%, compared to 53.6% for the rest of the population, the report found.
Meanwhile, people with disabilities have a experience domestic violence at a significantly higher rate than people without a disability, and KPMG estimated that the cost of family violence in 2015-16 for this group was in the order of $1.2m.
The report was one of 227 recommendations from Victoria’s royal commission into family violence, which handed down its findings last year. The commission recommended a “rigorous and consistent measurement of the cost of family violence to government, the community and individuals”.
KPMG said there were challenges to carrying out the assessment, including underreporting of family violence, insufficient data collected by Victorian government agencies on the nature and extent of family violence and associated support services required, and significant gaps in available data. The firm called for improved and more standardised data collection so that more accurate assessments could be made in future. Available data underestimated the impact of family violence, the report said.
The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, said while the report was a step towards estimating the cost of family violence in the state, “it can’t show us is the pain and suffering caused by the deaths every week of a woman killed at the hands of a current or former partner”.
“We just can’t let this go on,” he said.
Last week, an unprecedented $1.9bn was allocated by the state’s treasurer, Tim Pallas, in Victoria’s budget to address family violence, more money than all of Australia’s other jurisdictions combined.
The funding will be used to implement the royal commission’s recommendations, including 17 support and safety hubs across the state, five specialist family violence courts in regional and metropolitan Victoria and a family violence prevention agency.
