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Measuring the Tides of Violence
in Melbourne's Western Region

"I lived with my husband for 43 years, and I lived in fear every day… I thought if they were married to you they could do what they liked."
– Judith Arnott, a family violence survivor whose story is contained in the Measuring the Tides report

If services like Women's Health West are to deliver and advocate for better family violence services, we need up-to-date information about the nature and extent of the issues.

Measuring the Tides of Violence in the Western Region, a research report produced by Women's Health West and the Western Region Family Violence Prevention Network in late 2003, is the most comprehensive ever compilation of regional family violence data. It draws on data from the Australia Bureau of Statistics, the police, courts, crisis and other services, along with academic research and the personal stories of women survivors of family violence.

One of the report's findings is that despite 30 years of work against family violence, rates of men assaulting their wives/partners and children have not decreased. According to police data, reports of family violence in the Western Region rose by 10.3 percent in 2000-2001.

Other findings include:

• Pregnant women are at higher risk of increased levels of violence by male partners.
• Men who use violence are increasingly using weapons such as knives.
• Men's violence is becoming more severe, and is occurring more in public spaces, in front of witnesses other than the children.
• Women and children victims whose first language is not English are particularly disadvantaged by language and cultural barriers and a range of other factors.

DOWNLOAD the Measuring the Tides of Violence report (PDF 1.1 MB). Appendices are available as a separate file (PDF 250K).