People in regional New South Wales are more likely to be victims of domestic violence than those in greater Sydney, new crime data shows.
A Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) report released on Monday showed the rate of domestic assaults in regional communities in the past 12 months was 30 per cent higher than the statewide average.
The rates of violence also increased over the past five years.
Since 2018, regional NSW has experienced a 19 per cent rise in reported domestic assaults compared to a 13 per cent increase across the state.
There were 12,851 domestic violence-related assaults reported in regional NSW in 2018 compared to 15,234 this year.
BOCSAR executive director Jackie Fitzgerald said the highest rates of domestic and family violence were in western parts of the state.
"Towns like Moree, Walgett and Bourke really have levels of domestic violence that are more than five times the state average," she said.
Superintendent Greg Moore has worked as a police officer across regional NSW for 20 years, including in western NSW, on the South Coast and Mid North Coast.
He said domestic violence was behind about 40 per cent of calls for assistance to police across the state.
"It straddles all sections of society," he said.
"We know that domestic violence rates are under-reported and occur far too regularly in society."
The number of police compliance checks for apprehended domestic violence orders has more than tripled since 2018, to 144,253 checks in the past 12 months.
There were 22,244 reported AVO breaches in 2022, up from 15,644 in 2018.
Ms Fitzgerald said increased compliance checks could have led to more detections of breaches.
"Police are definitely very active, and that can sometimes lead to more detections," she said.
"But you also can't discount that we're seeing more of these crimes in the community."
More funding needed
The federal government has said gender-based violence is at the top of its national agenda, with its new 10-year plan aiming to end violence against women and children in Australia within "one generation".
The plan outlined the need for increased investments across key areas of early intervention, prevention, recovery, and response.
On Friday, the NSW government also laid out a "new five-year plan" to eliminate domestic and family violence.
But services tackling domestic violence argue there need to be changes made to the way funding is delivered on the ground to make it reach more organisations.
Jane Hughes manages a Women's Resource Centre on the NSW South Coast. She said more than 70 per cent of her work was with women impacted by domestic or sexual violence.
However, she said the centre was not eligible for most of the government's domestic violence funding.
"We're not identified as a domestic violence service, we're identified as a women's service," she said.
"I'm not sure what the difference is because it's such a common experience for women."
Ms Hughes said the centre relied on fundraising, philanthropic donations and grants to stay afloat but she was hopeful that would change.
"We do operate at a loss and it's only through the support of the community that we're able to do what we do," she said.
"Hopefully we might see some change on that front as there's greater recognition of the many ways in which domestic violence does impact women."
This story is part of a week-long ABC NSW project looking at domestic violence across regional, rural and remote parts of the state.
