General feelings of safety

Information regarding general feelings of safety was obtained from men and women aged 18 years and over in the 2021-22 PSS.

All respondents were asked about their general feelings of safety in the last 12 months in the following four settings:

• using public transport alone after dark
• waiting for public transport alone after dark
• walking in local area alone after dark
• home alone after dark.

Public transport includes buses, trains, trams, taxis, and ferries.

Local area is defined as the respondent’s neighbourhood or suburb (i.e. the area around the respondent’s home).

The information collected about general feelings of personal safety in the last 12 months includes:

• whether used public transport alone after dark
• feelings of safety using public transport alone after dark
• feelings of safety waiting for public transport alone after dark
• reasons for not using public transport alone after dark
• whether walked alone in local area after dark
• feelings of safety walking in the local area alone after dark
• reasons for not walking alone in local area after dark
• feelings of safety when home alone after dark
• reasons for not staying home alone after dark.

The data items and related output categories for this topic are contained within the SPS Level – General safety tab in the data item list available under Downloads.

The main purpose of these questions was to collect information about a person’s perception of whether they felt safe in the selected settings, or whether they avoided the selected settings due to their perception of them as unsafe or for other reasons.

This data can also be used to examine:

• the relationship between general feelings of safety in the community and recent experiences of violence
• changes in perceptions of safety over time by socio-demographic groups.

Points to be considered when using and interpreting data for this topic include the following:

• 'Alone' meant the person did not have anyone else with them. However, if a person was at home with a young child, they may have felt as if they were alone and therefore were treated as such.
• A person who was walking with their dog was considered to be walking alone.
• If the respondent felt varying levels of safety depending on what mode of public transport they used, they were asked to consider their feelings of safety when using public transport in general.

Data about general feelings of safety is comparable across all PSS cycles and the 1996 Women’s Safety Survey.