4530.0 - Crime Victimisation, Australia, 2014-15 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 17/02/2016   
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SEXUAL ASSAULT

WHAT IS SEXUAL ASSAULT?

For this survey, sexual assault is defined as an act of a sexual nature carried out against a person's will or without a person's consent. It involves physical contact and/or through the use of physical force, intimidation or coercion.

Sexual assault includes:

    • any actual or attempted forced sexual activity such as rape, attempted rape or indecent assault (e.g. being touched inside clothing or intentional rubbing of genitals against the victim)
    • assault with the intent to sexually assault
    • incidents that occurred at the victim’s place of work.
Sexual assault excludes sexual harassment that did not involve or lead to an actual assault.

For this survey, only people aged 18 years and over were asked the questions about sexual assault.


WHO EXPERIENCED SEXUAL ASSAULT IN 2014-15? (Table 19)

During the 12 months prior to interview, 58,600 Australians (0.3% of the population) aged 18 years and over experienced sexual assault. Females were more likely to experience sexual assault than males.


REPORTING RATE (Table 1)

One-quarter of all persons who experienced sexual assault (25%) reported the most recent incident to police.