4530.0 - Crime Victimisation, Australia, 2015-16 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 02/02/2017   
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MEDIA RELEASE
02 February 2017
Embargo: 11.30 am (Canberra time)
09/2017
Property crime continues to fall

Property crime in Australia has been declining since 2008-09, according to latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures released today.

“Analysis of the 2015-16 Crime Victimisation Survey, the eighth in the annual series found that national rates have been steadily declining over an eight year period for break-in, motor vehicle theft, theft from a motor vehicle, malicious property damage, and other theft,” said William Milne of the ABS’ National Centre for Crime and Justice Statistics.

“Of these crimes, malicious property damage such as destruction of property or graffiti experienced the greatest decrease, with the proportion of Australian households experiencing this crime falling from roughly one in 10 (11.1 %) in 2008-09 to one in 20 (4.8%) in 2015-16,” added Mr Milne.

“In contrast, the proportion of Australians experiencing personal crimes such as physical assault, non face-to-face threatened assault, robbery, and sexual assault has remained stable over this time. Looking over the eight year period, face-to-face threatened assault was the only personal crime to show a general decline.”

The Crime Victimisation publication provides information about people’s experiences for a selected range of personal and household crimes, including whether the most recent incident was reported to police, the socio-demographic characteristics of persons experiencing the offences, and the characteristics of the most recent incident they experienced.


Further information can be found in Crime Victimisation, Australia, 2015-16 (cat. no. 4530.0).

Media notes:

    • Please ensure when reporting on ABS data that you attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source.
    • Media requests and interviews - contact the ABS Communications Section on 1300 175 070 (8.30am - 5pm Monday to Friday).