Sexual offences reported to Hobsons Bay police rose from 94 to 162 last financial year, new Crime Statistics Agency figures reveal.
Police and counselling organisations attribute the increase to survivors being more confident in reporting sexual assaults.
Jane Vanderstoel, chief executive of the Footscray-based Western Region Centre Against Sexual Assault, said her organisation had experienced an increase in people seeking counselling and support, putting this down to “a shift in the secrecy that surrounds sexual abuse”.
“That has come from both the state and federal government inquiries and Royal Commissions into institutional sexual assault and family violence,” she said.
“These forums provide channels for the unspeakable to be spoken.”
Hobsons Bay’s Inspector Michelle Young said that while the figures looked confronting, many sexual offences being reported were ‘historical’. “We believe that there has been more public awareness and improved confidence to report historic matters,” she said.
“The community should feel assured that we do not believe there is an issue with sexual assaults occurring within Hobsons Bay.”
Counsellor Mairead Ashcroft has started a support group in Altona for adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse.
“Many survivors seem to feel safer telling their stories than they may have been in the past, due to the work of Rosie Batty on domestic violence and the Royal Commission into religious and institutional abuse,” she said.
“One of the greatest difficulties that has been shared with me by survivors is the isolation experienced while trying to recover from such life-changing criminal acts.
“I established Tribe Transformation, a free support group for adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse, to ease their isolation in our community.”
The group meets at Altona Homestead on the second and fourth Wednesday of the month, at 7pm.
Sexual Assault Crisis Line: 1800 806 292
