From Domestic Violence to Sustainable Employment (Report‪)‬

Introduction Domestic violence is acknowledged as a significant issue within Australia. Current figures suggest that almost a quarter (23%) of women who have been married or in a de facto relationship will report intimate partner violence each year, while further studies suggest that almost half of all Australian women will experience violence in their lifetime (ABS 1996). While acknowledging the cost to the individual, there has also been a small body of research which is beginning to recognise the consequential costs to governments, whose expenditures are enlarged by responding to the consequences of such violence. The impact of the global financial crisis has meant that governments have had to find savings in their expenditures and have begun to examine the costs of domestic and family violence to the community as a whole.