Driver
Rates of hospitalisation for family violence assaults for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children
By relationship to perpetrator
Data tables appear under figures
Adults
Measure 1
Rate of hospitalisations for family violence assaults
Nationally in 2022-23, 746.0 per 100,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women aged 15 or over were hospitalised for family violence related assaults. This rate has decreased from 789.8 per 100,000 in 2018-19 (the baseline year), following increases in 2019-20 and 2020-21 (figure SE13h.1).
Age-standardised rates by Indigenous status are available in tables SE13h.1 and SE13h.2.
Measure 2
Rate of hospitalisations for family violence assaults, by relationship of the perpetrator to the victim
Nationally in 2022-23, 535.3 per 100,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women aged 15 or over were hospitalised for family violence related assaults where the perpetrator was an intimate partner, and 210.7 per 100,000 where the perpetrator was a parent or other family member. The rate where the perpetrator was an intimate partner has decreased since 2018-19 (the baseline year), while the rate where the perpetrator was a parent or other family member has increased over the same period.
Across 2018-19 to 2022-23, more than 7 in 10 perpetrators of family violence related assaults resulting in the hospitalisation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women were an intimate partner (figure SE13h.1).

Children
Measure 3
Rate of hospitalisations for family violence assaults of children
Nationally in 2022-23, 26.2 per 100,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people aged under 15 were hospitalised for family violence related assaults. This is a decrease from 29.4 per 100,000 in 2018-19 (figure SE13h.2).

Indicator data specifications
Related outcome: | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and households are safe. |
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Related target: | By 2031, the rate of all forms of family violence and abuse against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children is reduced at least by 50% as progress towards zero. |
Indicator: | Rates of hospitalisation for family violence assaults for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children; by relationship to perpetrator. |
Measure: | There are three measures for this indicator. Measure 1 is the rate of hospitalisations for family violence assaults for Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people aged 15 or over, by sex Numerator – number of hospitalisations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 or over for assault, where the relationship of the perpetrator to the victim is a partner, parent or other family member, by sex Denominator – total number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 or over in the population, by sex and is presented as a rate per 100,000 people. Measure 2 is the rate of hospitalisations for family violence assaults for Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people aged 15 and above, by sex, by relationship of the perpetrator to the victim Numerator – number of hospitalisations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 or over for assault, where the relationship of the perpetrator to the victim is a partner, parent or other family member, by sex, by relationship of the perpetrator to the victim (‘partner’ and ‘parent or other family member’) Denominator – total number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 or over in the population, by sex and is presented as a rate per 100,000 people Measure 3 is the rate of hospitalisations for family violence assaults for Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people aged under 15 Numerator – number of hospitalisations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged under 15 for assault, where the relationship of the perpetrator to the victim is a partner, parent or other family member Denominator – total number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged under 15 in the population and is presented as a rate per 100,000 people. |
Indicator established: | National Agreement on Closing the Gap July 2020 |
Latest dashboard update for the indicator: | 12 March 2025 |
Indicator type: | Driver |
Interpretation of change: | A low or decreasing rate of family violence related hospitalisations is desirable. However, an increase in the rate may indicate that more victims/survivors have the support to seek treatment and report a perpetrator. See the data quality considerations for more information. |
Data source: | Name (numerator): National Hospital Morbidity Database. Frequency: Annual Name (denominator): Estimates and Projections for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population Frequency: Annual (updated data for all years included in the March 2025 Dashboard update) Documentation (links): https://www.aihw.gov.au/about-our-data/our-data-collections/national-hospitals-data-collection |
Data provider: | Provider name (numerator): Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Provider area: Hospitals data Provider name (denominator): Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Provider area: Demography |
Baseline year: | 2018-19 (updated in March 2025) |
Latest reporting period: | 2022-23 (updated in March 2025) |
Disaggregations: | Measure 1 State and territory and Australia, by sex, by Indigenous status. Measure 2 State and territory and Australia, by sex, by Indigenous status, by relationship of perpetrator to the victim (‘partner’ and ‘parent or other family member’). Measure 3 State and territory and Australia, by Indigenous status. |
Computation: | Numerator divided by denominator multiplied by 100,000 Rates per 100,000 shown for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples only. National age-standardised rates are provided for measures 1 and 2 to allow for comparisons between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non‑Indigenous people. Age standardised rates are calculated using the direct method of age standardisation. For this indicator, the age groups used are 15–24 years, 5-year age groups (25–59 years) and ages 60 years or over. See the How to interpret the data page for more information. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rate: calculated based on estimates of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population based on medium series projections. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population is calculated for December (of the reference period) based on the average of two ABS June estimates of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population data is 2021 Census-based (using the ABS medium projection series). Non-Indigenous rate: calculated based on estimates of the non‑Indigenous population derived as the difference between the total estimated resident population and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population projections (December of the reference period). Counting rules All measures Where requested by jurisdictions, counts less than five have been supressed by the AIHW and appear as ‘np’. Hospitalisations for family violence-related assaults are based on the ICD-10-AM 10th and 11th editions (Australian Consortium for Classification Development), including:
For more information about the scope related to family violence related injury, see Injury in Australia, Technical notes - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (aihw.gov.au). To minimise double-counting hospitalisations for injuries, the data excludes:
Hospitalisations for family violence assaults excludes:
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Data quality considerations: | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population rates reported for this indicator have been revised down compared to previous reporting on the dashboard. This follows from the release of 2021 Census-based Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population data. Please refer to the How to interpret the data page for more information. Comparisons of population rates should be used with caution. Increasing hospitalisation rates may reflect improving identification within hospitalisation administrative data, rather than changes in underlying injury rates. Please refer to the How to interpret the data page for more information. Not all people who have injuries or conditions as a result of family violence will seek hospital treatment, and of those that do, not all will disclose the cause (for example, assault) and/or the relationship to the perpetrator. Interpretation of changes over time should take into account changes in the proportion of all hospitalisations for assault among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people where perpetrator information was specified, which has increased from 66.9% in 2018-19 to 69.1% in 2022-23. State or territory refers to the place of usual residence of the patient. The data for Australia includes hospitalisations where usual residence of patient is ‘other territories’ or is unknown. |
Future reporting: | Future reporting will seek to include the following additional disaggregations:
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