Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) has announced a $2 million investment into research focusing on perpetrators of domestic and family violence.
The funding is provided by the Australian government and supports eight projects aimed at understanding and addressing the root causes of violence to inform effective policy and practice.
Two of the eight selected projects are led by First Nations researchers and were chosen from a competitive field of 83 applications across 50 institutions.
“If we are going to eliminate violence against women in this country, we need to understand why people use violence. These are deep-seated problems, and it takes time to understand them fully so we can address them effectively,” said ANROWS CEO, Tessa Boyd-Caine.
“By collaborating closely with key research partners to build the evidence-base, we are not only filling this critical knowledge gap but laying the foundation for lasting impact for the safety of all women and children in our community.”
The investment, delivered through the National Priority Research Fund, targets priority areas identified in Australia’s National Research Agenda 2023-2028.
These key areas include investigating the demographic profiles of people who use domestic and family violence as well as understanding the risk factors and pathways leading to and away from perpetration.
The investment also aims to enhance practitioner skills and confidence when responding to perpetration, and developing better-tailored responses for diverse population groups.
Improving agency processes and data collection practices and fostering improved partnerships with potential funding bodies and new research partners will be a target as well.
Domestic, family and sexual violence takes a profound toll on people throughout society. It’s a leading driver of homelessness for women, and on average, a woman is violently killed in Australia every four days.
The impact is even more devastating for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, who are 33 times more likely to be hospitalised and six times more likely to die from domestic violence, compared to non-Indigenous women.
Already this year, 35 women’s lives have been stolen by violence in Australia, according to the latest statistics from Destroy the Joint.
Assistant Minister for Social Services, Justine Elliot pointed to the government’s National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2023, saying that investing in research and building the evidence base is central to the plan’s success.
“That’s why research into perpetrator behaviour and the drivers of violence is key when it comes to implementing effective prevention and intervention solutions,” Elliot said.
The Australian Government has invested an additional $4.3 million in 2024-2025 to further ANROWS’ efforts to build an evidence base on pathways into and out of perpetration of family, domestic and sexual violence.