Readers please be advised this article mentions acts of intimate partner violence against First Nations people.
Indigenous women are eight times more likely than non-Indigenous women to be murdered, according to national statistics. Figures compiled by the Australian Institute of Criminology show a significant proportion of these are attributable to intimate partner violence.
I conducted a study, published this week, that examined the deaths of 151 Indigenous women and girls from across Australia over a 20-year period beginning in 2000. Almost all of these women and girls were subjected to intimate partner violence, whether at the hands of their husband or de facto spouse (72.2%), boyfriend (15.9%) or ex-partner (5.9%). The offenders were both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.
