April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Sexual violence is harmful, pervasive and preventable. Its impacts are felt across the whole community.

The latest Victorian crime statistics show that sexual offence reports have increased by 18.5% in 12 months (from 9,530 in December 2024 to 11,294 in December 2025). We also know that 9 in 10 women do not report sexual assault to police and although we don’t have the figure for men and children, we know they face barriers to reporting.

Frontline specialist sexual assault services across Victoria tell us that they are seeing increasing complexity, with the rising cases of technology-facilitated sexual abuse and non-fatal strangulation, particularly among children and young people.

Our members are receiving almost daily calls from schools needing specialist help when there's been a child sexual abuse incident and they are struggling to respond to the rising number of cases of children engaging in harmful sexual behaviour, often driven by exposure to pornography and family violence.

Everyone has a right to safety from sexual violence.

When it occurs, we need a justice system that enables survivors to access support, consider and act on their reporting options, secure a justice outcomes and recover. Instead, our justice system can compound harm and make recovery more difficult.

Sexual violence thrives in silence.

Specialist sexual assault services give survivors a voice and a place to tell their story, make sense of their experience and to be believed. But our workforce is struggling to meet demand.

Sexual violence can undermine survivors’ self-perceptions, relationships and their sense of safety, autonomy and belonging in the community.

This is unaceptable and we must call for urgent, meaningful change.

In the lead up to the Victorian state budget on 20 May, we are calling on the Victorian Government to invest in rights, recovery and respect for victim survivors of sexual violence.