Violence against women is widely recognised as a global issue. It is an often invisible, but common form of violence, and an insidious violation of human rights. It has serious impacts on the health and wellbeing of those affected and exacts significant economic costs on communities and nations. Australia is not immune.

The National Community Attitudes towards Violence Against Women Survey was developed by VicHealth in partnership with The University of Melbourne, the Social Research Centre and experts across Australia, and supported by the Australian Government Department of Social Services as part of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010–2022.

This is the third survey of its kind, with the first undertaken in 1995 and the second in 2009.

The survey tells us that we have been able to challenge a culture that allows violence against women to occur. There have been sustained improvements since 1995 in a number of areas. However, there are other areas in which progress has been minimal, along with some concerning negative findings.

This report focuses on the responses given by 1,923 young people aged between 16 – 22 years who participated in NCAS. These findings are compared with those aged 35 – 64 years of age, enabling results to be compared between two generations: young people and their parents. The report identifies positive attitudes and some areas of concern with regard to the attitudes of young people on violence.