Natasha Maclaren-Jones
Shadow Minister for Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault
Paul Toole
Shadow Minister for Police
The latest NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) quarterly update reveals a welcomed downward trend in break and enters and motor vehicle thefts across the state but domestic violence assaults in regional parts of NSW have risen to even more alarming levels.
In the March 2025 quarterly report, recorded incidents of break and enter (both dwellings and non-dwellings), motor vehicle theft, and retail theft have all seen significant declines highlighting a strong police performance in reducing certain major offences across NSW.
However, domestic violence-related assaults increased by 3.6%, with rises recorded in 8 of 13 Regional NSW areas and 3 of 15 Greater Sydney locations. In some areas, such as the New England and North West region, the rate of violent crime is more than double the state average.
Over the past 2 years, family violence has increased by 7.3%, while the number of child victims of domestic violence has increase by 9.5%.
Intimidation, stalking and harassment are up 4.8%, while Apprehended Domestic Violence Order compliance checks continue to drop under Labor, by almost 17,000 from 113,509 in 2023 to 96,520 in 2025.
Shadow Minister for Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Natasha Maclaren-Jones said that under the Minns Labor Government family and sexual violence has reached record highs.
"These are not just statistics in a report, they represent women and children, which the Minns Labor Government is failing," Mrs Maclaren-Jones said.
Shadow Minister for Police Paul Toole said the latest report gave a sobering reminder of the reality of domestic violence in NSW.
"The lack of decisive action from the Minns Labor Government is leaving victims in regional communities vulnerable and allowing domestic violence incidents to increase," Mr Toole said.
"The statistics speak for themselves. Whatever Labor is doing is not working and the Ministers responsible need to take some accountability.
"We cannot continue to have innocent lives lost or permanently affected by acts of violence in their own homes, so we need new approaches, new thinking and a hell of a lot more resourcing.
"The cries from the bush are going unanswered by this city-centric government and this cannot go on."
In 2024, the NSW Police Force attended 152,268 domestic and family violence incidents, equating to on average NSW Police officers responding to 560 domestic and family violence incidents each day.
