Report on Government Services 2024

Police services are the principal means through which state and territory governments pursue the achievement of a safe and secure environment for the community. Across jurisdictions, police activity can be grouped into four broad activity areas:

• Community safety – preserving public order and promoting a safer community
• Crime – investigating crime and identifying and apprehending offenders
• Road safety – targeted operations to reduce the incidence of traffic offences and through attendance at, and investigation of, road traffic collisions and incidents

• Judicial services – support to the judicial process including the provision of safe custody for alleged offenders.

Police services also respond to more general needs in the community – for example, working with emergency management organisations and a wide range of government services and community groups, and advising on general policing issues.

Police services are predominantly the responsibility of state and territory government agencies. They include the Australian Capital Territory community policing function performed by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) under an arrangement between the Australian Capital Territory and the Commonwealth Minister for Justice.

The Australian Government is responsible for the AFP. Data for the national policing function of the AFP and other national non-police law enforcement bodies (such as the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission) is not included in this report.

Funding for police services comes almost exclusively from state and territory governments, with some limited specific purpose Australian Government grants. Nationally in 2022-23, total real recurrent expenditure (including user cost of capital, less revenue from own sources and payroll tax) was $15.7 billion with an average annual growth rate of 3.7% for the five years to 2022-23 (table 6A.1).

Client groups

As a universal service, all community members are recipients of policing services. Some members of the community, who have more direct dealings with the police, can be considered specific client groups, for example:

• victims of crime
• people suspected of, or charged with, committing offences
• people reporting criminal incidents
• people involved in traffic-related incidents
• third parties (such as witnesses to crime and people reporting traffic accidents)
• people requiring police services for non-crime-related matters.

Staffing

Police staff comprise operational and non-operational staff.

An operational police staff member is any member, sworn or unsworn, whose primary duty is the delivery of police or police-related services to an external client (where an external client predominately refers to members of the public but may also include law enforcement outputs delivered to other government departments).

Police staff are also categorised according to ‘sworn’ status. Sworn police officers exercise police powers, including the power to arrest, summons, caution, detain, fingerprint and search. Specialised activities may be outsourced or undertaken by administrative (unsworn) staff.

Operational police staff is considered the primary estimate of the number of police staff actively engaged in the delivery of police-related services. Nationally in 2022-23, 89.8% of the 79,664 police staff were operational. This proportion has decreased every year since 2017-18 (92.2%). There were 272 operational police per 100,000 people nationally in 2022-23. Rates varied across jurisdictions from 218 to 301, except the Northern Territory with a rate of 749 (figure 6.1 and table 6A.2).

The rate of operational sworn police staff is also reported to give greater context to police service provision across Australia. Nationally in 2022-23, 72.7% of the total 79,664 staff were operational sworn police. This proportion has decreased every year since 2019-20 (74.7%). There were 221 operational sworn police per 100,000 people nationally in 2022-23. Rates varied across jurisdictions from 163 to 238, except the Northern Territory with a rate of 505 (figure 6.1 and table 6A.2).

‘Response times by geographic area’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to provide police services in an equitable manner. ‘Response times by geographic area’ is defined as the time taken in minutes between the initial receipt of a call for an urgent incident and arrival of the first police unit, by remoteness area. This indicator is under development.

‘Workforce representation’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to provide police services in an equitable manner.

‘Workforce representation’ is defined by two measures:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff – the proportion of police staff (operational and non‑operational) who are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people compared with the proportion of the population aged 20–64 years who are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.
• Female staff – the proportion of police staff (operational and non-operational) who are female compared with the proportion of the population aged 20–64 years who are female.

Information on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status is generally collected at recruitment and relates to staff who self-identify as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent.

Similar proportions of police who are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people or who are female compared to the population is desirable.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people might feel more comfortable when in contact with police services if they are able to liaise with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff. Similarly, women might feel more comfortable when in contact with police services if they are able to liaise with female police staff (particularly in situations involving family violence and sex offences). Workforce representation can also bring about positive cultural change.

Nationally in 2022-23, 2.3% of police staff (operational and non-operational) identified as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (up from 1.7% in 2013-14) (figure 6.2). In all jurisdictions except New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander police staff was lower than the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the population (figure 6.2).

Nationally in 2022-23, 35.1% of police staff (operational and non-operational) were female, slightly higher than in 2021-22 (34.5%), and higher than 10 years ago (32.2% in 2013-14) (figure 6.3). In all jurisdictions across the 10 year time series, the proportion of female police staff was lower than the proportion of females in the population (table 6A.2).

Nationally in 2022-23, 27.7% of operational sworn police staff were female (proportions varied across jurisdictions from 22.5 to 34.4%) (table 6A.2).

‘Response times’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to provide police services that are accessible and responsive. ‘Response times’ is defined as the time taken in minutes between the initial receipt of a call for an urgent incident and arrival of the first police unit. This indicator is under development.

While there is currently no consistent public reporting of response times across states and territories, New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory police publish response times data in annual reports. This information is summarised below.

• NSW Police Force report the number of urgent (imminent threat to life or property) response calls and the percentage attended within a target time of 12 minutes. In 2022-23, NSW Police Force responded to 177,647 urgent response calls, attending 73.9% of urgent duty jobs within the 12 minute target time (NSW Police Force 2023).
• Queensland Police Service report the percentage of code one and code two incidents attended within 12 minutes from triple 000 originating calls. Data includes geographic areas covered by the Queensland Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) System. Code one and two incidents include very urgent matters when danger to human life is imminent and urgent matters involving injury or present threat of injury to person or property. In 2022-23, Queensland Police Service attended 77% of urgent matters within the 12 minute target time (Queensland Police Service 2023).
• WA Police Force aim to respond to 80% of priority one and two incidents – situations that require urgent attendance and include an imminent threat to life, serious offence or incident in progress – within 12 minutes in the Perth metropolitan area. WA Police Force report that they met this target in 87.5% of priority one and two incidents in 2022-23. The target for priority three incidents – situations that require routine attendance and include an offence in progress/suspect at the scene or the preservation of evidence – is 80% within 60 minutes in the Perth metropolitan area (86.7% achieved in 2022-23) (WA Police Force 2023).
• SA Police reported that 93.8% of Grade one taskings in the metropolitan area were responded to within 15 minutes in 2022-23 (SA Police 2023). The target is 80% or above.
• ACT Policing report response time targets for three incident categories:
  • Priority one incidents (life threatening or critical situations) – Average length of time to respond should be 8.2 minutes or less (7.4 minutes on average in 2022-23)
  • Priority two incidents (situations where the information provided indicates that time is important but not critical) – Average length of time to respond should be 17.0 minutes or less (18.1 minutes on average in 2022-23)
  • Priority three incidents (situations where there is no immediate danger to safety or property, but police attendance or response is needed no later than 48 hours from the initial contact by the complainant or a time agreed with the complainant) – 90% within 48 hours (94.6% achieved in 2022-23) (ACT Policing 2023).

Other jurisdictions do not report response times as part of their corporate reporting. Victoria cannot report response times due to current call taking and dispatch systems.

‘Road safety’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to promote safer behaviour on roads.

‘Road safety’ is defined by three measures:

• use of seatbelts – the proportion of people who had driven in the past six months and who reported that they had driven without wearing a seatbelt
• driving under the influence – the proportion of people who had driven in the past six months and who reported that they had driven when possibly over the alcohol limit
• degree of speeding – the proportion of people who had driven in the past six months and who reported that they had driven 10 kilometres per hour or more above the speed limit.

The road safety data is from the National Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing. It is an annual survey commissioned by all Australian state and territory police. The data is self-reported by participants and the survey samples people aged 18 years or over. (Until October 2015, it sampled people aged 15 years or over.)

A low or decreasing proportion of people who stated that they had driven without wearing a seatbelt, driven when possibly over the alcohol limit and/or driven 10 kilometres per hour or more above the speed limit is desirable.

The use of seatbelts, driving under the influence of alcohol and speeding are affected by a number of factors in addition to police activities, such as driver education and media campaigns.

Nationally in 2022-23, of those people who had driven in the past six months:

• 5.0% reported driving without wearing a seat belt, down from 10 years ago (5.2% in 2013-14)
• 6.4% reported driving when possibly over the blood alcohol limit, down from 10 years ago (7.7% in 2013-14)
• 60.0% reported travelling 10 kilometres per hour or more above the speed limit, up from 10 years ago (54.5% in 2013-14) (figure 6.4).

‘Deaths in police custody’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to provide safe custodial services.

‘Deaths in police custody’ is defined as deaths in police custody and custody-related operations, by Indigenous status.

These deaths are divided into two main categories:

• Category one: deaths in institutional settings (for example, police stations or lockups, police vehicles, during transfer from an institution), and other deaths in police operations where officers were in close contact with the deceased (for example, most raids and shootings by police).
• Category two: deaths during custody‑related operations – where officers did not have such close contact with the person to be able to significantly influence or control the person’s behaviour (for example, most sieges), and most cases where officers were attempting to detain a person (for example, a pursuit).

Zero or a decreasing number of deaths in custody and custody‑related operations is desirable.

Nationally in 2022-23, there were 40 deaths in police custody, 10 of which involved Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The total number of deaths in police custody in 2022-23, and the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths in police custody in 2022-23, are the highest they have been over the reported time series (back to 2007-08) (table 6.1).

‘Magistrates’ court decisions resulting in a guilty outcome for defendants’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to support the judicial process to bring to justice people responsible for committing an offence.

‘Magistrates’ court decisions resulting in a guilty outcome for defendants’ is defined as the proportion of Magistrates’ court decisions where the defendant pled guilty, was found guilty by the court or was found guilty ex‑parte (that is, a finding of guilt in the defendant's absence). The defendant is a person or organisation against whom one or more criminal charges have been laid.

A high or increasing proportion of Magistrates’ court decisions where the outcome for the defendant is guilty is desirable. This can indicate police were effective in gathering evidence and only bringing to court charges with sufficient evidence to ensure a guilty outcome.

This indicator does not provide information on the number of cases where police have identified a likely offender but choose not to bring the likely offender to court due to several factors.

Nationally, in 2022-23, 97.2% of Magistrates’ court decisions resulted in a guilty outcome for defendants; a figure unchanged over the past three years (figure 6.5).

‘Satisfaction with police services’ is an indicator of governments’ objective of providing services that are accessible and responsive to community needs, including disasters and emergencies.

‘Satisfaction with police services’ is defined by three measures: the proportion of people who were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with police services:

• in general (whether or not they had contact with police services)
• in their most recent contact
• in response to emergencies and disasters.

Satisfaction with police services data is from the National Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing. It is an annual survey commissioned by all Australian state and territory police. The data is self-reported by participants and the survey samples people aged 18 years or over. (Until October 2015, it sampled people aged 15 years or over.)

A high or increasing proportion of people who were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ is desirable.

Nationally in 2022-23:

• 73.9% of surveyed adults reported they were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ in general with the services provided by police, a six year low compared to a high of 80.7% in 2020-21
• 77.2% of surveyed adults who had contact with police in the previous 12 months reported they were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with their most recent contact, a ten year low compared to a high of 86.8% in 2014-15
• 76.3% of surveyed adults who had contact with police in response to emergencies and disasters reported they were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with police service responses, a seven year low compared to a high of 83.0% in 2020-21 (figure 6.6).

‘Perceptions of police integrity’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to provide services with integrity, honesty and fairness.

‘Perceptions of police integrity’ refers to public perceptions and is defined by three measures – the proportion of people who ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ that police:

• treat people fairly and equally
• perform their job professionally
• are honest.

Perceptions of police integrity data is from the National Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing. It is an annual survey commissioned by all Australian state and territory police. The data is self-reported by participants and the survey samples people aged 18 years or over. (Until October 2015, it sampled people aged 15 years or over.)

A high or increasing proportion of people who ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ with these statements is desirable.

Public perceptions might not reflect actual levels of police integrity, because many factors, including hearsay and media reporting, might influence people’s perceptions of police integrity.

Nationally in 2022-23, the proportion of people who ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ that police:

• ‘treat people fairly and equally’ was 63.6%, a 10 year low compared to a high of 77.7% in 2014-15
• ‘perform their job professionally’ was 80.4%, a 10 year low compared to a high of 88.7% in 2014-15
• ‘are honest’ was 66.5%, a 10 year low compared to a high of 75.9% in 2014-15 (figure 6.7).

‘Complaints’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to provide services with integrity, honesty and fairness.

‘Complaints’ is defined as the rate of complaints against sworn police staff by the public per 100,000 people in the population.

Complaints includes statements (written or verbal) by members of the public regarding police conduct when a person was in police custody or had voluntary or involuntary dealing with the police. They include sustained complaints, withdrawn complaints, dismissed complaints, and unresolved complaints, whether they are handled internally to the police service or by an external agency.

A low or decreasing rate of complaints is desirable.

A high or increasing rate of complaints does not necessarily indicate a lack of confidence in police. It can indicate greater confidence in complaints resolution. It is desirable to monitor changes in the rate of complaints to identify reasons for the changes and use this information to improve the manner in which police services are delivered.

Nationally in 2022-23, the rate of complaints per 100,000 people in the population varied across jurisdictions from eight in the Australian Capital Territory to 143 in the Northern Territory (figure 6.8).

‘Youth diversions’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to provide police services that are accessible (in this case, access to non-court proceedings, where appropriate) and that support the judicial process to bring to justice people responsible for committing an offence.

‘Youth diversions’ is defined as the proportion of police proceedings for alleged youth offenders that were diverted by police using a non‑court proceeding.

The measure is reported by Indigenous status.

When police apprehend offenders, they can charge the offender (and proceed to court), or they can use their discretion to divert the offender away from this potentially costly, time consuming and stressful situation (for both the offender and victim).

Alleged youth offenders are aged 10 to 17 years at the date of proceeding. A proceeding is a legal action initiated against an alleged offender for an offence (or offences). Police proceedings represent a count for each separate occasion on which police initiate a legal action against an offender during the reference period. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status is identified at the time of the proceeding by police.

Diversions include non‑court actions such as community conferences, diversionary conferences, formal (written) cautioning by police, family conferences, and other programs (for example, drug assessment/treatment). Non‑court actions that are initiated against offenders who would not normally be sent to court for the offence detected, and who are treated by police in a less formal manner (for example, issued informal (oral) cautions, informal warnings or infringement/penalty notices), are not included.

A high or increasing number of youth diversions, as a proportion of youth offenders is desirable. Not all diversionary options are available or subject to police discretion in all jurisdictions. In addition, young offenders who commit a serious offence or an offence specified in applicable legislation cannot be diverted. This limits opportunities for youth diversion. This indicator does not provide information on the relative success or failure of diversionary mechanisms.

In 2022-23, three jurisdictions (Victoria, Queensland and South Australia) reported an increase from 2021-22 in the proportion of all young offenders diverted from the justice system, and five jurisdictions (New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania) reported an increase in the proportion of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander offenders diverted from the justice system. In all jurisdictions in 2022-23, a higher proportion of non-Indigenous young offenders were diverted than Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young offenders (table 6.2).

‘Outcome of investigations’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to support the judicial process to bring to justice people responsible for committing an offence.

‘Outcome of investigations’ is defined by two measures of the status of a police investigation after 30 days from the recording of the incident by police:

• the proportion of all investigations that were finalised
• the proportion of all finalised investigations where an offender was proceeded against.

Measures are reported for a range of offences:

• personal offences: homicide and related offences; sexual assault; armed robbery; and unarmed robbery
• property offences: unlawful entry with intent; motor vehicle theft; and other theft.

A high or increasing proportion of investigations that were finalised and investigations finalised where proceedings were instituted against the offender, is desirable.

The proportion of investigations finalised within 30 days of the offence becoming known to police varied across jurisdictions for a range of personal and property offences. Nationally in 2022:

• sexual assaults recorded the lowest proportion of personal crimes with investigations finalised within 30 days (33.8%)
• unlawful entry with intent recorded the lowest proportion of property offences with investigations finalised within 30 days (18.2%) (figure 6.9a).

The proportion of finalised investigations for which proceedings had begun against the offender within 30 days of the offence becoming known to police varied across jurisdictions for a range of personal and property offences. Nationally in 2022, of finalised investigations:

• homicide and other related offences were the most likely personal offences to have an offender proceeded against within 30 days (95.6%)
• unlawful entry with intent was the most likely property offence to have an offender proceeded against within 30 days (84.0%) (figure 6.9b).

‘Workforce sustainability’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to provide sustainable police services.

Police workforce sustainability relates to the capacity of the police workforce to meet current and projected future service demand. These measures are not a substitute for a full workforce analysis that allows for training, migration, changing patterns of work and expected future demand. They can, however, indicate that further attention should be given to workforce planning for police services.

This indicator is currently under development for reporting in the future.

‘Expenditure per person’ is a proxy indicator of governments’ objective to provide police services in an efficient manner.

‘Expenditure per person’ is defined as real recurrent expenditure on policing per person in the population. All else being equal, low or decreasing expenditure per person is desirable. However, efficiency data should be interpreted with care. High or increasing expenditure per person might reflect poor efficiency but may also reflect changing aspects of the service or policing environment. Low expenditure per person may reflect more efficient outcomes or lower quality or less challenging crime and safety situations. The scope of activities undertaken by police services also varies across jurisdictions.

Real recurrent expenditure includes user cost of capital, less revenue from own sources and payroll tax.

Time series data for real recurrent expenditure and capital costs (including associated costs for the user cost of capital) for each jurisdiction is reported in table 6A.1. Information on treatment of assets by police agencies is presented in the Explanatory material.

Nationally in 2022-23, real recurrent expenditure on policing was $597 per person in the population. This figure has increased in real terms each year since 2016-17. Expenditure per person ranged from $478 to $629 across all jurisdictions, except the Northern Territory where it was $1,777 per person (figure 6.10).

‘Crime victimisation’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to contribute to a safe and secure community that enables people to undertake their lawful pursuits confidently and safely.

‘Crime victimisation’ is defined as the victimisation rate of selected personal and property crimes and is based on survey data from the Crime Victimisation Survey, a topic on the annual Multipurpose Household Survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Data is reported for:

• personal crimes of physical assault, face‑to‑face threatened assault and robbery per 100,000 people aged 15 years or over; and for sexual assault, per 100,000 people aged 18 years or over
• property crimes of break‑in, attempted break‑in, motor vehicle theft, theft from a motor vehicle, malicious property damage and other theft, per 100,000 households.

A victim is a person (for personal crimes) or household (for property crimes) who has self‑reported as experiencing at least one incident in the last 12 months.

A low or decreasing rate of crime victimisation is desirable.

Personal crimes

ABS Crime Victimisation Survey data

Nationally, in 2022-23, there were an estimated 1,718.6 victims of physical assault, 2,204.2 victims of threatened assault (face-to-face incidents only), 495.8 victims of sexual assault and 247.8 victims of robbery per 100,000 people (figure 6.11a).

The ABS Crime Victimisation Survey also includes information on the proportion of survey respondents who experienced personal crimes and reported these crimes to police. Police reporting rates for personal crimes are available in table 6A.14. Nationally, in 2022-23, police reporting rates varied from 54.5% for surveyed victims of physical assault to 31.2% for surveyed victims of sexual assault.

Police recorded crime victimisation data

Data on the rates of victims of police recorded crimes per 100,000 people for selected personal offences are available in table 6A.16 as context to ABS Crime Victimisation Survey data. Rates varied by offence type. Nationally in 2022, there were a reported 1.5 victims of homicide and related offences per 100,000 people and 123.7 victims of sexual assault per 100,000 people.

A subset of police recorded crime victimisation data related to family and domestic violence is available in table 6A.18. This data highlights the extent of police recorded crime linked to family and domestic violence. Nationally in 2022, there were a reported 0.5 victims of family and domestic violence related homicide, 44.9 victims of family and domestic violence related sexual assault and 0.6 victims of family and domestic violence related kidnapping per 100,000 people (figure 6.11b).

Data on police reported victims of sexual assault by age at incident is available in table 6A.19. In 2022, 58.9% of recorded victims of sexual assault were a child (under 18 years of age) at the time of the incident. As some offences reported in any given year might relate to historical offences, data is also provided on victims who were a child at the time of the incident and where the incident occurred within one year of the date of report. Nationally in 2022, there were 11,162 reported victims of child sexual assault where the incident occurred within one year of the date of report. In comparison, there were 18,933 child victims of sexual assault who reported a sexual assault (recent or historical) to police in 2022.

Caution should be used when comparing police recorded crime victimisation data and ABS Crime Victimisation Survey data. Data on police recorded victims of crime is obtained from police records and reflects victims of crime reported to, or detected by, police, whose details are subsequently recorded on police administrative systems. ABS Crime Victimisation Survey data is based on survey respondents' perceptions of the behaviours they experienced and includes crimes that are not reported to or detected by police.

Property crimes

ABS Crime Victimisation Survey data

Nationally, for every 100,000 households in 2022-23, an estimated 1,848.6 experienced a break-in, 1,942.3 an attempted break-in, 545.7 motor vehicle theft, 2,185.8 theft from a motor vehicle, 3,670.2 malicious property damage and 1,858.5 experienced other theft (figure 6.11c).

The ABS Crime Victimisation Survey also includes information on the proportion of survey respondents who experienced property crimes and reported these crimes to police. Police reporting rates for property crimes are available in table 6A.15. Nationally, in 2022-23, police reporting rates varied from 85.9% for surveyed victims of motor vehicle theft to 36.4% for surveyed victims of other theft.

Police recorded crime victimisation data

Data on the rates of victims of police recorded crimes per 100,000 people for selected property offences are available in table 6A.17 as context to ABS Crime Victimisation Survey data. Rates varied by offence type. Nationally in 2022, there were a reported 211.9 victims of motor vehicle theft per 100,000 people and 1,831.2 victims of other theft per 100,000 people.

As above, caution should be used when comparing police recorded crime victimisation data and ABS Crime Victimisation Survey data.

‘Perceptions of safety’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to contribute to a safe and secure community that enables people to undertake their lawful pursuits confidently and safely.

‘Perceptions of safety’ is defined by two measures – the proportion of people who felt ‘safe’ or ‘very safe’:

• at home alone during the night
• in public places, including walking alone in the neighbourhood during the day and night and travelling on public transport during the night.

Perceptions of safety data is from the National Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing. It is an annual survey commissioned by all Australian state and territory police. The data is self-reported by participants and the survey samples people aged 18 years or over. (Until October 2015, it sampled people aged 15 years or over.)

A high or increasing proportion of people who felt ‘safe’ or ‘very safe’ is desirable.

Nationally in 2022-23, 86.8% of people felt ‘safe’ or ‘very safe’ at home alone during the night. This proportion dropped to 53.7% when walking locally during the night and dropped further to 33.0% when travelling on public transport during the night (figure 6.12).

‘Perceptions of crime problems’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to contribute to a safe and secure community that enables people to undertake their lawful pursuits confidently and safely.

‘Perceptions of crime problems’ is defined as the proportion of people who thought that various types of crime were a ‘major problem’ or ‘somewhat of a problem’ in their neighbourhood.

This indicator measures perceptions of crime, as distinct from the actual level of crime (recorded crime data is available in 6A.16 and 6A.17). Perceptions of crime data is sourced from the National Survey of Community Satisfaction with Policing. It is an annual survey commissioned by all Australian state and territory police. Data is self-reported by participants and the survey samples people aged 18 years or over. (Until October 2015, it sampled people aged 15 years or over.)

A low or decreasing proportion of people who thought the selected types of crime were a ‘major problem’ or ‘somewhat of a problem’ in their neighbourhood is desirable.

Nationally in 2022-23, 45.8% of surveyed adults reported illicit drugs to be either a ‘major problem’ or ‘somewhat of a problem’ in their neighbourhood. Also, 65.9% of surveyed adults thought speeding cars, dangerous or noisy driving to be a problem, a slight increase from 64.9% in 2021-22 (figure 6.13).

‘Road deaths’ is an indicator of governments’ objective to contribute to a safe and secure community that enables people to undertake their lawful pursuits confidently and safely.

‘Road deaths’ is defined as the rate of road deaths per 100,000 registered vehicles.

The Australian Road Deaths Database provides basic details of road transport deaths in Australia as reported by the police each month to state and territory road safety authorities.

No deaths or a decreasing rate of road deaths per 100,000 registered vehicles is desirable.

The rate of road deaths is affected by a number of factors in addition to activities undertaken by police services, such as the condition of roads, driver education and media campaigns.

Nationally in 2022-23, there were 5.7 road deaths per 100,000 registered vehicles. This is down from a rate of 6.6 road deaths 10 years ago (2013-14) (figure 6.14). The 2022-23 rate reflects 1,201 road deaths nationally (table 6A.22).

Contextual data on traffic accident hospitalisations is available in table 6A.23. Nationally in 2022-23, there were 170.6 traffic accident hospitalisations per 100,000 registered vehicles, the lowest rate reported over the seven year time series (table 6A.23).

a Depreciated replacement cost; current value; market value (current (net) value, market selling price or exchange value); and deprival value may be either the depreciated replacement cost of an asset of a similar service potential or the stream of its future economic benefits. b Estimated as (1/depreciation rate). c ACT asset lives for some assets have been grouped with other classifications. d WA IT equipment includes communication equipment. e NSW office equipment includes computer software, furniture and fittings, firearms and musical instruments. Vic office equipment includes furniture. f Includes all transport equipment. However, marine equipment is amortised over 20 years and livestock over 8 years. Leased vehicles, including aircraft and vessels are amortised over the lease term. – Nil or rounded to zero. na Not available.

Source: State and territory governments (unpublished).