AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY: Counting Dead Women in 2023

@DeadWomenAus
26 October 2023

Based on media reports collected from 1 January to 26 October 2023 the Counting Dead Women project has recorded 41 violent deaths of females across Australia this year, at the hands of persons known to them. 

In the year to June 2023, according to the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR), 15 of these violent deaths were recorded as murders occurring in New South Wales - one in the Northern Rivers region. 

In 2022 the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) recorded 56 women and 11 girls under the age of 18 years murdered - a total of 67 violent deaths - and the attempted murder of another 43 women & girls.

The majority of these deaths appear to have occurred in residential properties.

In 2022 ABS recorded 19 women and girls in NSW as victims of homicide or related offences (murder, attempted murder, manslaughter).  Again, the majority appeared to have occurred in residential properties.  At least 10 of these deaths appear to have been classified as murder.  

SOURCES:

• Destroy the Joint, Counting Dead Women project; 

https://twitter.com/DeadWomenAus

• ABS, Victims of crime, Australia 2022, Tables 1-8 & 9-16. National statistics about victims of a range of personal, household and family and domestic violence offences as recorded by police.

https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/crime-and-justice/recorded-crime-victims/latest-release#australia

•  NSW BOSCAR, Female Victims of Homicide (Murder) from July 2021 to June 2023. 

http://crimetool.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/bocsar/

Australia has been in less than zero population growth from natural increase for over 40 years and continues to supplement its short & long term production & workforce needs through overseas migration

Births, Australia: Statistics about births and fertility rates for Australia, states and territories, and sub-state regions, Reference period 2022, Australian Bureau of Statistics, statistical series.

Click on table to enlarge

Total fertility rate is the number of registered births per woman.

Crude birth rate is the number of births per 1,000 estimated resident population.

Net reproduction rate is the average number of daughters surviving to reproductive age per woman.

Sex ratio is the number of male births per 100 female births.

All statistics are based on year of registration unless otherwise specified.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), media release, 18 October 20232:

Australian women are having fewer children, and having them later in life according to data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Emily Walter, ABS head of demography said; “Today’s data continues a trend we’ve seen in births over the last 40 years, with the average age of both mothers and fathers steadily increasing since the mid 1970s.

“In 1975, less than 20 per cent of births were to mothers who were between 30 and 39 years old, but now nearly 60 per cent of births are to mothers in this age group.”

Australian women are also having fewer children. The total fertility rate has remained lower than the replacement rate (considered to be 2.1 babies per woman to replace her and her partner, in the absence of overseas migration) since 1976.

In 2022, this was 1.63 births per woman, which was lower than the 2021 rate of 1.70 births per woman, but higher than the 1.59 births per woman recorded in 2020.

“Although total fertility remains low, the fertility rate for women in their late 30s and early 40s has significantly increased.

“From 1991 to 2022, the fertility rate of mothers aged 35-39 years has almost doubled from 36.0 to 69.3 births per 1,000 women, and for mothers aged 40-44 years, it has nearly tripled from 5.5 to 15.8 births per 1,000 women.

In contrast, the fertility rate of teenage mothers has reached an all-time low of 6.8 births per 1,000 women, from 22.1 births per 1,000 women in 1991.” Ms Walter said.

The falling fertility rates of women aged under 30 years and the rising fertility rates of women in their thirties and early forties, are consistent with women having their first and subsequent births later in life.

This shift towards older parenthood largely follows from young people tending to reach the milestones which usually precede parenthood (i.e. leaving the parental home, gaining economic independence, and marrying or forming long-term de facto relationships) later than was seen in previous decades.

In 2022:

• Australia registered a total of 300,684 births, a decrease of over 9,000 from 2021 but higher than 2020 numbers.

• Women aged 30-34 years had the highest fertility rate (114.9 births per 1,000 women or about 1 birth for every 9 women), followed by women aged 25-29 years (83.0 births per 1,000 women).

• Of women aged 15-49 years, women in the 45-49 years cohort continue to have the lowest fertility rate (1.1 babies per 1,000 women).

• The fertility rate of women aged 15-19 years was the lowest on record (6.8 babies per 1,000 women).

• The Northern Territory recorded the highest total fertility rate (1.73 babies per woman), followed by New South Wales and Queensland with 1.71 babies per woman.

• The Australian Capital Territory had the lowest total fertility rate (1.41 babies per woman).

When one looks at the seven local government areas which make up the NSW Northern Rivers region, in 2022:

Ballina – 439 registered births, total fertility rate 1.83

Byron – 364 registered births, total fertility rate 1.42

Clarence Valley – 575 registered births, total fertility rate 1.42

Kyogle – 95 registered births, total fertility rate 2.40

Lismore – 466 registered births, total fertility rate 1.84

Richmond Valley – 262 registered births, total fertility rate 2.27

Tweed – 1,060 registered births, total fertility rate 2.00.

[Table 3.1 Births, Summary Local Government Area]

It would appear that despite high rainfall & rain dumps, east coast low storms and record floods, in 2022 the stork still managed to deliver a good many bundles across this region.

Everyone is hoping that the Reserve Bank of Australia continues to restrain the urge to raise interest rates today

IMAGE: Depositphotos

By late August 2023 mainstream media was reporting that in the 2022-23 financial year supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths recorded profits in excess of $1 billion representing around a 5% increase on the previous year - withy Woolworth’s recording a nearly 20% rise in grocery sector earnings while Coles recorded a 2.9% rise.

These grocery earnings being an almost direct cash transfer from dwindling household piggy banks to supermarket chain bank accounts.

In August the major banks were also reporting fat financial year profits, with the Commonwealth Bank coming in with a personal record breaking best of $10.2 billion in 2022-23.

None of the big banks being slow in coming forward to pass on increasing Reserve Bank of Australia cash rates onto customers, including those with home mortgages.

According to the ABS latest monthly consumer price index indicator, rent prices increased 7.6% in the twelve months to July 2023, up from 7.3% in June, reflecting strong demand for rental properties and tight rental markets.

Electricity prices rose 15.7% in the twelve months to July 2023, reflecting annual price reviews in July.

Annual prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages rose 5.6%, down from the rise of 7.0% in June, with dairy and related products rising12.7% and bread & cereal products rising 9.9% even if fruit & vegetables fell by -2.9%.

The actual pain of cost of living pressures are of course rarely mentioned by the Reserve Bank of Australia or the statisticians.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), media release, 4 September 2023:

Household spending was 0.7 per cent lower when compared to July last year, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Robert Ewing, ABS head of business statistics, said households have curbed their spending over the past 12 months amid higher interest rates and inflation.

“This is the first time since February 2021 that the spending indicator has fallen.

“Spending on discretionary goods and services was down for the fourth straight month. It fell 3.3 per cent over the year, as households adapt to cost of living pressures.

“Non-discretionary spending rose 1.7 per cent, which is the lowest growth rate since early 2021.”

The Sydney Morning Herald, 4 September 2023:

The largest fall in spending on goods including clothing, footwear and home furnishings since the start of the Delta wave of the pandemic has bolstered the case for the Reserve Bank to hold interest rates steady for a third consecutive month.

Outgoing RBA governor Philip Lowe will on Tuesday helm his last meeting of the board, which is widely expected by economists to keep the official cash rate at 4.1 per cent as the economy continues to show signs of slowing and inflation pressures ease.

Because someone has to say it: By Dec 2023 it's likely converging & merging weather and climatic conditions will see not only cost of fruit, vege, eggs, dairy products, meat & basic foodstuffs rising - it will see availability & supply become issue to varying degrees across Oz.

— no_filter_Yamba (@no_filter_Yamba) September 1, 2023