Australia recorded 279 homicide victims between 1 July 2024 and 30 June 2025. Published today, the Australian Institute of Criminology's (AIC) Homicide in Australia 2024-25 report provides an overview of national homicide trends and emerging patterns in offending and victimisation.
Knives and other sharp instruments remained the most common homicide weapons, accounting for 34% of all deaths - a trend consistent since 1989-90. Men continued to comprise the majority of both homicide offenders (85%) and victims (80%). Half of all homicides occurred in residential settings, most often in the victim's home.
Domestic homicides, where the victim was the intimate partner or relative of the primary offender, comprised more than one third of all cases. Intimate partner violence resulted in 46 deaths, most involving female victims. This represents a decrease of 16 compared with the previous reporting period and the third-lowest recorded rate.
First Nations people were killed at six times the national rate, with two thirds of these homicides occurring within family or intimate relationships. Most First Nations victims were women killed by an intimate partner (76%), and almost nine in ten primary homicide victims were killed by a First Nations offender.
