4530.0 - Crime Victimisation, Australia, 2012-13 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 12/02/2014   
   Page tools: Print Print Page Print all pages in this productPrint All

SEXUAL ASSAULT

WHAT IS SEXUAL ASSAULT?

For this survey, sexual assault is defined as an act of a sexual nature carried out against the victim’s will or without the victim's consent. It involves physical contact and/or the use of physical force, intimidation or coercion.

Sexual assault includes:

  • any actual or attempted forced sexual activity such as rape, attempted rape or indecent assault (e.g. being touched inside clothing or intentional rubbing of genitals against the victim)
  • assault with the intent to sexually assault
  • incidents that occurred at the victim’s place of work.
Sexual assault excludes sexual harassment that did not involve or lead to an actual assault.

For this survey, only people aged 18 years and over were asked the questions about sexual assault.

WHO EXPERIENCED SEXUAL ASSAULT IN 2012-13? (see Data cube 3, Table 16)

During the 12 months prior to interview, an estimated 40,700 Australians (0.2% of the population) aged 18 years and over were a victim of sexual assault. This included 26,400 female victims (0.3%) and 14,400 male victims (0.2%).

REPORTING RATE (see Data cube 1, Table 1)

Just over a third of all victims of sexual assault (34%) reported the most recent incident to police.