Reports of family and domestic violence in Mid West-Gascoyne soar 200 per cent in past decade: police data

Reports of family and domestic violence offences to Mid West-Gascoyne police have skyrocketed more than 200 per cent over the past decade as the scourge hits epidemic levels. The number of reports to police over the past decade has soared almost 205 per cent, while the rate has risen 10.67 per cent over the past year. That means Mid West and Gascoyne police are responding to more than 11 reports of FVD each day. The WA Police Force data covers family assaults, threatening behaviour and breaches of family and violence restraining orders from 2024-25 – with local service providers warning the figures reflect a worsening crisis in the Mid West community and pleading for something to be done. Centacare CEO David Power said while his organisation was not a specialist domestic violence service, nearly half of its clients were now impacted in some way by FDV. “The increase has been extremely evident, in particular over the past 18 months,” he said. “We estimate that close to 50 per cent of the clients we see across all of our services are now impacted in some way by FDV. “Ending FDV is not something that will be achieved quickly. It must start with primary prevention and education, then a focus on early intervention. “When we get these early stages right, the need for responsive services will, in time, reduce.” Mr Power praised the work of local organisations such as Desert Blue Connect, but said they were limited by funding, and called for more investment in men’s behavioural change programs. “Another key area is an expansion of the refuge, of which I believe there is some funding for in the near future,” he said. “It would be nice not to need to grow our response services, but the need is certainly present in the community right now.” That funding stems from an election promise by the Cook Labor Government to deliver 12 new refuge units in Geraldton, but recent parliamentary estimates revealed the commitment had been scaled back to eight units. Minister for Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence Jessica Stojkovski said the Cook Government remained committed to improving safety for victim-survivors, with $200,000 allocated in the 2025-26 State Budget to progress the Geraldton project. “Early planning is under way with the business case informing the scope. Once the business case is finalised and assessed, the project will progress with additional funding in future budget cycles, as is normal practice for the delivery of election promises,” she said. Across WA, there were 35,806 reports of family and domestic violence-related assaults in 2024-25, a 10-year high. Centre for Women’s Safety and Wellbeing chief executive Alison Evans said the figures should “concern everyone in the community” and warned they represent “only the smallest number of victim-survivors”. “(It) will be shocking to many, but those on the ground know it to be true and see the scale of the crisis every day,” Dr Evans said. She said specialist services were overwhelmed and under-resourced despite “Herculean efforts” by staff, with more women and children seeking help, violence becoming more extreme, and needs growing more complex. On Thursday, staff and community partners of the Desert Blue Connect men’s service in Geraldton toured upgraded facilities, which support men ready to take responsibility for harmful behaviours through programs including counselling, behaviour change, and support groups, while also addressing challenges such as mental health, trauma, and substance abuse. Desert Blue Connect CEO Russel Pratt said the alarming statistics showed a rise in reporting. “The amount of incidents may or may not be increasing. What’s increasing is the amount of reporting of those incidents,” he said. “With growing community awareness, more and more of these incidents have been reported. But absolutely, we’re seeing a growing need for services such as ours.” Mr Pratt said he would like to see programs such as the men’s support service grow, particularly in the education sector, to help adjust community attitudes and make the Mid West region “safer for women and children”. “There’s really clear research that a lack of power and powerlessness is a significant factor in family domestic violence, and in particular, coming back to gender and gender inequality,” he said. “We have a number of primary prevention programs — community respect equality being one of them — that tries to model behaviours in a workplace. We do work with the schools and with various children groups as well around proper consent and what a healthy relationship looks like, and what coercive control is. “We take clients who are genuine about recognising they have a problem and then wanting to make those changes.” MID-WEST GASCOYNE CRIME SNAPSHOT Domestic violence offences (Family assaults, threatening behaviour, breaches of FVROs) 2024-25: 4218 2023-24: 3811 2014-15: 1384 One-year trend: up 10.67 per cent 10-year trend: up 204.76 per cent Non-family assaults 2024-25: 1032 2023-24: 1029 2014-15: 537 One-year trend: up 0.3 per cent 10-year trend: up 92.2 per cent Drug offences 2024-25: 1583 2023-24: 1285 2014-15: 1383 One-year trend: up 23.19 per cent 10-year trend: up 14.46 per cent Stealing offences 2024-25: 3244 2023-24: 2523 2014-15: 2828 One-year trend: up 28.57 per cent 10-year trend: up 14.71 per cent Burglaries (dwelling and non-dwelling) 2024-25: 1341 2023-24: 1028 2014-15: 2027 One-year trend: up 30.4 per cent 10-year trend: down 33.84 per cent Source: WA Police