THE DATA EXISTS. THE SERVICES DON’T.
This is not a competition. It never was. It is about whether evidence is permitted to inform policy.
Domestic Violence — ABS data:
The ABS 2021–22 Personal Safety Survey records 1.5 million Australian men who have experienced violence, emotional abuse, or economic abuse by a partner — 1 in 7 adult men.
A further 1.3 million men experienced partner emotional abuse, and 526,600 men experienced physical partner violence.
The data exists. It is published by the Australian Government’s own statistical agency. And then it is quietly set aside.
Suicide — ABS Causes of Death 2024:
In 2024, 3,307 Australians died by suicide. More than three-quarters — 76.5% — were male. Men died by suicide at a rate of 18.3 per 100,000. Women, at 5.5 per 100,000.
That is a ratio of more than 3:1.
Suicide was the second leading cause of death for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men. Males aged 60–64 recorded an 18% increase in age-specific suicide rates from 2023 to 2024.
Since 1907, the male age-standardised suicide rate has been consistently higher than the female rate. Variations in Australia’s overall suicide rate have been largely driven by changes in the male suicide rate.
Over a century of data. Consistently. Unambiguously.
The policy response?
The National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022–2032 frames men’s role as “allies” — or as perpetrators requiring behaviour change. Male victim-survivors are not a named service cohort.
No national male refuge network. No dedicated crisis housing stream. No gender-neutral frontline service category for men experiencing intimate partner violence. And a suicide rate that has exceeded women’s by a factor of three for over a century — met with programmes structurally designed around a different demographic.
This is not about competing with anyone’s suffering.
It is about demanding that a government which collects this data — and then builds policy that does not reflect it — be held to account.
Recognise the evidence. Fund the response. All of it.
Popularity and culture is not evidence. Institutional drift is real and present!
📩 admin@aflsolicitors.com.au
Sources: ABS Personal Safety Survey 2021–22 | ABS Causes of Death 2024 (released 14 November 2025) | AIHW Suicide & Self-Harm Monitoring, 2024 | National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022–2032 (DSS) | ICESCR Arts 2(2), 3, 9 & 12
#DomesticViolence #MaleVictims #Suicide #EvidenceBasedPolicy #Australia #FamilyLaw #PolicyAccountability #NationalPlan
The suicide data lands the argument with finality. Over a century of documented disparity — and a policy framework that doesn’t reflect it. That is the indictment.