Reported DV assaults increase in NSW

One Sydney suburb has recorded a staggering 49 per cent increase in domestic violence assaults over two years as reported incidents continue to rise in NSW.

Reported assaults rose five per cent across the state in the two years to December, according to NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research figures released on Wednesday.

In greater Sydney, Sutherland recorded a 49 per cent rise in reported assaults while Baulkham Hills recorded a 27.1 per cent increase, Ryde a 23.6 per cent lift and the eastern suburbs 15.5 per cent.

Newcastle and Lake Macquarie recorded a 10.4 per cent rise in reported domestic violence assaults, while those in the Riverina rose 19.1 per cent.

But NSW Attorney General Mark Speakman said it wasn't known if the figures represented an actual rise in domestic violence assaults.

"These stats could represent increased incidents, they could represent increased reporting, increased policing," Mr Speakman told reporters in Sydney on Wednesday.

He said figures for domestic violence occasioning grievous bodily harm, which have been stable over two years and falling over five years, could give some indication.

"That's much harder to disguise than other forms of domestic violence," Mr Speakman said.

The attorney general thought a 12.4 per cent rise in breaches of apprehended violence orders could represent increased and more aggressive policing.

The figures on Wednesday came as vigils for a murdered Brisbane mother and her three children were held at state parliaments across Australia, with campaigners calling for more action to curb domestic violence.

Hannah Clarke and her children were killed by her former husband Rowan Baxter in February when he set the car they were in alight.

While the figures released on Wednesday don't extend beyond December 2019, Mr Speakman said frontline services and police were reporting an increase in domestic violence reporting since the horrific murders.

"I've heard a figure of a 12 per cent spike in DV reporting since the Hannah Clarke tragedy," the attorney general said.

He said the "incomprehensible" case had "probably traumatised the whole nation".

In the new NSW crime figures, stealing from a retail store was the only other major crime offence trending upwards in the two years to December 2019.

Mr Speakman said crime generally across the major categories was stable or falling in NSW over the last two years.

Over five years, recorded incidents of sexual assault rose an average of 5.9 per cent per year, while indecent assault and other sexual offences increased by an average 4.7 per cent annually.

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