National data has exposed deep inequities in access to support for victim-survivors of family and domestic violence, highlighting the disproportionate impact on First Nations communities, and how many are being left without a safe place to go or effective way to call for help.
The new data, released this month to coincide with Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Month, showed that while nearly one in four (24.3 per cent) Australians escaping family and domestic violence in 2025 were unable to access the accommodation they needed, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people the percentage was significantly higher at 41.66 per cent.
The data also showed more than 117,000 people sought homelessness support last year.
First Nations women are 26 times more likely to be hospitalised due to family and domestic violence than non-Indigenous Australians. At the same time, it's estimated that around 90 per cent of violence against First Nations women goes unreported, pointing to systemic barriers, fear, and lack of access to culturally safe support.
Tanya Frazer, Manager for Youth and Communities at IFYS (Integrated Family and Youth Service) Maroochydore, said addressing "structural drivers of violence", such as poverty and housing equality, is "essential to tackling domestic and family violence".
"First Nations women are 32 times more likely to be hospitalised for domestic and family violence ... and are ten times more likely to die due to an assault, yet they're also less likely to report the violence," she said.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare estimates 90 per cent of violence against First Nations women never comes to the attention of police or support services.
Ms Frazer noted that underreporting means the real picture is significantly worse than official figures suggest, citing "a deep mistrust of police and child protection systems" and fears that reporting domestic violence "will lead to child removal or criminalisation of family members".
Advocates note access to a safe phone is a critical but often overlooked lifeline. Perpetrators frequently monitor, confiscate or destroy phones, cutting victim-survivors off from emergency help, housing and critical services at the exact moment they are trying to leave. For many First Nations victim-survivors, particularly in regional and remote communities, this loss of connection can be even more isolating.
Ms Frazer said "supports like new tech can be life-changing for someone escaping violence".
"We have an example of a woman who would ask to put her phone in the freezer when she came to appointments with us. She thought he (the perpetrator) might be listening, he was also tracking where she was," she said.
"When she wanted to escape, we were able to provide her with a DV Safe Phone. We were able to input our number and other safe numbers that she needed and she could leave her (other) phone behind and escape."
Ms Frazer noted Indigenous people are also three times more likely to report intimate images being distributed without their consent than non-Aboriginal people.
"The figure is 23 per cent versus eight per cent so it's a significant difference," she said.
