New data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics this week shows the number of sexual assaults reported around Australia has risen to an all-time high.
In 2021, more than 31,000 people were recorded as victims of sexual assault.
That's a rise of 13 per cent in one year, and the only major crime category to increase.
The data also showed that three in five victims reporting assaults were under 18 years of age at the date of the incident.
And according to experts, 87 per cent of people that experience sexual assault don't ever report this crime, meaning the true figure is much higher.
Tara Hunter, a sexual assault frontline worker from Full Stop Australia, said the increase is not just because more women are reporting crimes.
"It's not OK to just say, well, that's the only reason why these numbers have gone up," she said.
"We can't discount the fact that this crime is potentially on the increase."
Domestic violence contributing to rise in sexual assaults
Ms Hunter said the perpetrators are more likely to be men assaulting their female partners.
"The data shows that 37 per cent of these incidents have happened in the home in the context of interpersonal relationships," she said.
"We know that — similar to the other figures that we know about sexual violence and gender-based violence — it's generally perpetrated by a male and it's usually someone that's known… to the victim survivor."
Ms Hunter is calling for better education for young people, noting that most women calling her organisation's helpline are under the age of 25.
But she said many of their calls go unanswered due to a lack of proper funding.
"They present to services like ours for support, so we need to make sure that we have well-funded, responsive services that are available when people need them."
Technology increasing risks of assault
Hayley Boxall, research manager at the Australian Institute of Criminology, said apart from more people reporting sexual assault, the rise could also be because there are greater opportunities for people to commit such crimes.
"Mobile dating apps are a perfect example of a platform that is used by many, many Australians to meet new people and to form intimate relationships," she said.
"These new technological... advances provide opportunities for people to connect and potentially for opportunities for sexual assault to occur."
Ms Boxall said policing and the criminal justice system need to meet community expectations for sexual assault cases.
"That comes down to that basic day-to-day interaction that police officers may have with sexual assault victims in terms of the language that they use, in terms of engagement strategies… through to the communication that they have with people through the different investigation processes."
