The government has released ‘shocking’ findings about child maltreatment in Australia, with the attorney-general and minister for social services calling for national action to respond to the data.
The Australian Child Maltreatment Study (ACMS) was published by the Medical Journal of Australia on Monday. It is the first nationally representative study of the prevalence of all five forms of child maltreatment.
The report found that across the nation, 39.6% of Australians aged 16-65 years have been exposed to domestic violence. Another 28.5% have experienced sexual abuse, and 32% physical abuse in their lifetime.
In a joint statement, cabinet ministers Mark Dreyfus and Amanda Rishworth said the findings underscored the need to develop complex co‑design processes to better capture representative data for First Nations Australians, people with disability and CALD people.
The ministers also thanked the study authors for their “vital work”.
“The findings of the Australian Child Maltreatment Study are shocking. These aren’t just statistics. These are children,” they said.
The Australian Child Maltreatment Study provides data on how many Australians have experienced five types of child maltreatment (physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, and exposure to domestic violence).
Read the full findings: https://t.co/7nWH7DlGeq pic.twitter.com/OpMbJZOTuu
— MJA (@theMJA) April 2, 2023
The survey of 8,500 respondents also found that 8.9% of Australians have experienced neglect.
Dreyfus and Rishworth added the study’s findings justified government support for more important work in this area, including a $22.4 million investment to further the ACMS under the national strategy to prevent and respond to child sexual abuse 2021-2030.
The second bulk of data from the ACMS will show how child maltreatment has changed over time. It will include a scoping study, cognitive testing and pilot analysis, data collection, data analysis and report writing, and publication release and knowledge transfer of the study.
“We will be looking carefully at the findings of this report and we will use this data to inform better, more targeted, policies,” the ministers said.
The federal government plans to work with state and territory counterparts for a nationally coordinated response to combat the prevalence of maltreatment identified in the ACMS report.
Other relevant coordinated national strategies which impact the ACMS include the national strategy to prevent and respond to child sexual abuse 2021-2030; safe and supported: the national framework for protecting Australia’s children 2021‑2031; national plan to end violence against women and children 2022-2032; Australia’s disability strategy 2021-2031; and the national agreement on closing the gap.
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