The number of family violence incidents reported in Victoria last year leapt during periods when the state was emerging from strict coronavirus lockdowns.

New crime data shows police recorded an overall increase in family violence incidents of 9.4 per cent in 2020 compared to 2019, with significant spikes in June and October, when restrictions started to ease.

Family violence incidents reported to police spiked in June and October last year in Victoria, as the state was emerging from lockdown.

There were 15.3 per cent more incidents recorded in June last year and 16.1 per cent more in October compared to the same months the year before, according to the Crime Statistics Agency, possibly due to the fact that it was difficult for victims to report crimes while stuck at home with their abuser.

The agency’s chief statistician Fiona Dowsley said this pattern emphasised “the importance of considering potential barriers to reporting faced by victim survivors when lockdown measures are in place”.

Victoria went into its first lockdown in March last year and its second in late June. Strict restrictions, including night-time curfews and a one-hour limit on exercise outside the home, remained in place for several months before the “road map for reopening” was announced by the state government in September.

Those working in the family violence sector have previously expressed concerns that lockdown restrictions had the potential to deter victim-survivors from seeking help. In April last year, experts said calls for help had plunged amid fears victims were unable to safely call for help while they were stuck at home with their abusers.

Police have also said they were proactively trying to reach at-risk members of the community during lockdowns.

“We knew going into the pandemic and lockdowns there would be challenges. People would be struggling, victims of family violence might not have access to support being locked up at home under restrictions,” Deputy Commissioner Rick Nugent said in March.

The new family violence data released on Friday was from the CSA’s COVID-19 family violence data portal, which includes information from police, the courts, and the health and justice departments. The establishment of the portal was a recommendation of Victoria’s 2016 Royal Commission into Family Violence.

The latest data also shows that while ambulance callouts relating to family or sexual violence were higher during each month of last year compared with the year before, there was a decrease of 13.7 per cent in November and 20.9 per cent in December.

There were also slightly fewer people recorded by police as “affected family members” of family violence.

In the last three months of last year, 42 per cent of affected family members were identified as being at a family incident for the first time, compared with 43.7 per cent during the same period in 2019.

This indicates that the majority of those people had prior experiences of family violence, the CSA said.

There were fewer finalised Family Violence Intervention Orders and more interim orders issued, however, finalised orders began to increase again in November and December as the courts began to reopen and were more accessible.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

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