MEDIA RELEASE
17 February 2011	Embargo: 11.30 am (Canberra Time)	18/2011

Victimisation rates for both personal and household crimes have decreased over a 12 month period according to a report on data collected in 2009-10 and released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The ABS Crime Victimisation Survey 2009-10 found that the victimisation rates for robbery, face-to-face threatened assault and non face-to-face threatened assault all decreased since the 2008–09 survey. The survey also found that victimisation rates for attempted break-in, theft from a motor vehicle, malicious property damage and other theft have also significantly decreased.

The survey found more than half a million Australians aged 15 years and over were a victim of at least one physical assault in the 12 months preceding the survey. Approximately 1 in 29 males aged 15 years and over experienced at least one physical assault, compared to 1 in 41 females.

The survey also showed that over half a million people aged 15 years and over had experienced a threatened assault, with 3 million incidents nationwide.

In the 12 months prior to the survey, 254,500 households were victims of break-in, 203,700 households were victims of attempted break-in and 76,700 households had a motor vehicle stolen. Of the household crimes, malicious property damage had the highest victimisation rate, with over three quarters of a million households affected in 1.2 million incidents.

According to the survey, over 6 million Australians aged 18 years and over believed noisy driving was a problem in their neighbourhood - the most common problem identified. This was closely followed by dangerous driving with 5.8 million people stating it was a concern. Around 20 percent of people cited rowdy behaviour as an issue in their local area, while 14 percent considered noisy neighbours to be a problem. However, more than a third of people aged over 18 years indicated they had no social disorder issues of concern in their local area.

Further information is available in Crime Victimisation, Australia, 2009–10 (cat. no. 4530.0).


Media Notes:

• Due to differences in mode of data collection and survey questions, data from the 2009–10 survey is only directly comparable with data from the 2008–09 Crime Victimisation Survey.
• The Crime Victimisation Survey asked people aged 15 and over whether they experienced a crime in the preceding 12 months for a selected range of personal and household offences (physical assault, threatened assault, robbery, break-in, attempted break-in, motor vehicle theft, theft from a motor vehicle, malicious property damage and other theft). Questions about sexual assault were asked of people aged 18 years and over. People aged 18 years and over were also asked questions relating to perceptions of social disorder in their local area.
• When reporting ABS data, you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or ABS) as the source.