Tobin, like Australian researchers who released a paper on the rise of sexual strangulation or “choking”, on Tuesday, said aggressive pornography may be driving the rise of strangulation in family violence.
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“You see a lot of strangulation in porn … I am pretty glad this [federal] government is tackling this Wild West of online content.”
Thirty-nine Australian women have been killed violently in 2024, 17 more than at this time last year. Eight women were killed in June, according to the website Counting Dead Women Australia, which records women’s verified, violent deaths.
Police actions during the blitz – including dedicated operations and proactive checks on known offenders and victims – were aimed at increasing the chances of family violence detection, and took place across Cardinia, Casey, Frankston, Greater Dandenong and the Mornington Peninsula.
These five municipalities accounted for more than 70 per cent of family violence incidents across south-east Melbourne, police said.
Casey, which includes the suburbs of Cranbourne, Berwick and Narre Warren, had the highest incidence of family violence-related offences in Victoria’s 79 local government areas in the year to March 2024, with 5564 incidents.
One of 2700 alleged perpetrators of serious family violence arrested by police in domestic violence blitz this year.Credit: Victoria Police
In the year ending March 2024, family violence reported to police had increased by 3 per cent on the year to March 2023, with almost 96,000 incidents recorded. Second-highest arrest numbers in the latest blitz were in Frankston (3010) followed by Dandenong (2613).
The fact children were present during some of the attacks recorded is significant in light of Australia’s first in-depth research into factors in the deaths of children at the hands of parents.
It was compiled by Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety, with researchers working with the Australian Domestic and Family Violence Death Review Network. They found that between 2010 and 2018, of 113 children killed by a parent, in nine out of 10 cases (88 per cent), there was a history of intimate partner violence.
Greater Dandenong specialist investigation and support inspector Rod Maroney said almost half the area’s police workload relates to family violence.
“We have made an enormous number of arrests this year,” he said. More than 7500 charges laid in just over five months meant “an average of 17 arrests every day, or one arrest every hour-and-a-half”.
Other charges were laid against a 41-year-old woman who allegedly stabbed a 74-year-old woman known to her, inflicting non-life-threatening injuries, and a 42-year-old man who allegedly stabbed a 70-year-old male family member and assaulted a 73-year-old female family member.
Inspector Terry Rowlands, of Mornington Peninsula police, said it was disheartening that more family violence reports were occurring, but it meant more people could get help and police could prevent further harm.
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“We know the amount of proactive work that family violence detectives are undertaking each day, such as knocking on the doors of known perpetrators and victims, is identifying offending that would otherwise go undetected,” he said.
The police data coincides with a meeting of peak family-violence sector leaders from around Australia on Wednesday, with the federal Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth and advisers from the offices of the prime minister, minister for women and attorney -general.
At the meeting, convened by independent MP Zoe Daniel, leaders from organisations representing more than 200 frontline domestic violence, sexual assault and women’s legal services demanded the federal government form a national partnership with states to ensure enough money gets to the front lines of violence response, which cannot meet demand – especially in regional and remote areas.