Glossary
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander: A person of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent who identifies as an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. See also Indigenous.
assault: The direct infliction of force, injury, or violence upon a person or persons, or the direct threat of force, injury, or violence where there is an apprehension that the threat could be enacted. Includes serious assault resulting in injury, serious assault not resulting in injury, and common assault.
current partner: A person the respondent currently (at the time of the Personal Safety Survey) lives with in a married or de facto relationship.
domestic violence: Set of violent or intimidating behaviours between current or former intimate partners, where a partner aims to exert power and control over the other, through fear. Domestic violence can include physical violence, sexual violence, emotional abuse and psychological abuse. See also family violence.
environmental factors: Aspects of the social and physical environment that can affect people in different ways. Environmental factors may include cultural background, sex, socioeconomic status, social connectedness and geographical location.
emotional abuse: Behaviours or actions that are perpetrated with the intent to manipulate, control, isolate or intimidate, and which cause emotional harm or fear.
family and domestic violence: See family violence and domestic violence.
family and domestic violence related offence: An offence involving at least two persons who were in a specified family or domestic relationship at the time of the offence; or where the offence was determined by a police officer to be family and/or domestic violence related as part of their investigation.
family violence: Violence between family members as well as current or former intimate partners. Can include acts of violence between a parent and a child. The preferred term used to identify experiences of violence for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as it encompasses the broad range of extended family and kinship relationships in which violence may occur.
formal responses: Responses to an incident of family, domestic and sexual violence that involves reporting to, or engaging services of formal systems. Formal systems may include police, government services, or other targeted services.
homicide and related offences: Offences including murder, attempted murder and manslaughter, but excluding driving causing death and conspiracy to murder.
Indigenous: Person of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent who identifies as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. See also Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.
Indigenous status: Whether a person identifies as being of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin.
informal responses: Responses to an incident of family, domestic and sexual violence that do not involve reporting to a formal system. Informal responses may include disclosure to a friend, family member, colleague, or religious advisor.
intimate partner: A person who is either a current or previous partner, boyfriend, girlfriend or date, or ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend.
intimate partner violence: Violent or intimidating behaviours perpetrated by current or former intimate partners. See also partner violence and domestic violence.
partner: Depending on the data source used, partner can be a current or previous de facto, spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend or date. See also partner violence; intimate partner violence; current partner; previous partner.
partner violence: Violent or intimidating behaviours perpetrated by a partner (current or previous). See also domestic violence and intimate partner violence.
physical violence: Behaviours that can include slaps, hits, punches, being pushed down stairs or across a room, choking and burns, as well as the use of knives, firearms and other weapons, or threats of such acts.
previous partner: A person with whom the respondent lived at some point in a married or de-facto relationship and from whom the respondent is now separated, divorced or widowed.
psychological abuse: Behaviours that include limiting access to finances, preventing the victim from contacting family and friends, demeaning and humiliating the victim, and any threats of injury or death directed at the victim or their children.
psychosocial factors: Personal and biological factors that can influence individual experiences. There are many different types of psychosocial factors, some examples are perceptions of risk/safety, expectations, networks, childhood exposure, and self-esteem.
remoteness: Each state and territory is divided into regions based on their relative accessibility to goods and services (such as general practitioners, hospitals and specialist care), measured by road distance. These regions are based on the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia and defined as Remoteness Areas by either the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (before 2011) or the Australian Statistical Geographical Standard (from 2011 onwards) in each Census year.
sexual assault: Physical contact, or intent of contact, of a sexual nature directed toward another person where that person does not give consent, gives consent as a result of intimidation or deception, or consent is proscribed (i.e. the person is legally deemed incapable of giving consent because of youth, temporary/permanent (mental) incapacity or there is a familial relationship).
sexual threat: The threat of acts of a sexual nature that were made face-to-face where the person believed it was able to and likely to be carried out.
sexual violence: The occurrence, attempt or threat of sexual assault. Sexual violence can be perpetrated by partners in a domestic relationship, previous partners, other people known to the victim, or strangers.
specialist homelessness service: Assistance provided specifically to people who are experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness.