This article contains references to domestic violence.
Tina* spent five years battling a problem she didn't know existed until she stepped foot into a Canberra hospital.
It was only when the doctors told her she was lucky to be alive after being strangled unconscious by her ex-partner in 2018 that she realised she was a victim-survivor of domestic violence.
"I didn't take getting grabbed by the throat or chucked up against a wall or if I didn't get a bad injury as family violence. You just get so used to it," she told SBS News.
"That was my wake-up moment. I didn't realise how close I'd been to death when he had choked me unconscious.
"[The doctors] put the fear of God into me in a very compassionate way."
Tina, 45, is one of the more than 29,000 Australians who were hospitalised due to family and domestic violence between 2010–11 and 2018–19.
The figure comes from new analysis released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) on Thursday, which examined hospital stays over that eight-year period due to family and domestic violence.
The new report also shows more than two-thirds of people hospitalised were women.
Head injuries accounted for more than half (51 per cent) of hospital stays, followed by injuries of the abdomen (7.5 per cent), thorax (7.5 per cent) and wrist and hand (6.6 per cent). More than half of the patients presented with multiple injuries.
Females were more likely to have a hospital stay due to violence from a partner (76 per cent of female stays) than males (30 per cent of male stays), while males were more likely to have a hospital stay due to violence from "other family member" (55 per cent of male stays) than females (18 per cent of female stays).
AIHW also found that many women experienced violence from their partner for the first time during the COVID-19 pandemic.
'Excluded'
The report found more than one in four people hospitalised for family and domestic violence were identified as being Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. Indigenous people were also twice as likely to have multiple hospital stays than non-Indigenous people.
Kuku Yalanji woman Antoinette Braybrook is the CEO of not-for-profit organisation Djirra, focusing on support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander victim-survivors.
She said the federal government has "failed our women".
Previous data has shown Indigenous women to be 35 times more likely to be hospitalised due to family violence compared to non-Indigenous women, and 10 times more likely to die from assault than other women in Australia.
Antoinette Braybrook says the government has failed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. Source: Supplied/Antoinette Braybrook
But Ms Braybrook said not enough Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices have been "brought to the table".
Their peak body, the National Forum for Family Violence Prevention Legal Services, was not included in the federal government's advisory group to draft the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children.
"Many of us who have been working in the field for such a long time have been excluded from the national conversation about addressing or ending violence against women," Ms Braybrook said.
Ms Braybrook has called on the government to launch a dedicated national plan to end violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, but she said they haven't heeded her concerns.
"The federal government needs to stop doing business as usual and start hearing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women ... we need dedicated responses," she said.
'Dead women walking'
In 2017 Tina sustained serious facial and bodily injuries as a result of physical assault - but her ex-partner didn't let her go to the hospital because he was afraid she would report his offence to the doctors.
"It was years and years [of violence] to get to that one hospital admission," she said.
She's concerned for the thousands of victim-survivors who are left unrepresented in the AIHW's latest figures because, like her, they are unable to access hospital treatment.
"I worry a lot about them because they're dead women walking."
"I lost myself, I ceased to exist as an individual. When he was there, I just did what I was told."
Ms Braybrook shared the same concerns, saying up to 90 per cent of violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women is left unrecorded.
"The evidence is on the table. The gap is widening, it's not closing, and so much more needs to be done."
Women’s Safety Minister Anne Ruston said in a statement the government recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women have the greatest knowledge about the issues that affect them.
She said the government is in the final stages of developing the next National Plan, which “will be our 10-year shared strategy to end all forms of family, domestic and sexual violence”.
“I want to assure all First Nations women that the Morrison government is listening to the calls of Indigenous Women and has agreed to implement the first-ever First Nations specific Action Plan which will be developed and delivered by First Nations people. It will be the primary mechanism to achieve Closing the Gap target 13 and will sit alongside the National Plan," she said.
“The government embarked on an extensive consultation process to develop the next National Plan which included establishing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Council which will continue to advise the government as we implement the National Plan and the Indigenous Action Plan.”
*Name has been changed.
If you or someone you know is impacted by family and domestic violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit . In an emergency, call 000.
Readers seeking support can contact Lifeline crisis support on 13 11 14, visit or find an . Resources for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders can be found at .
The Men’s Referral Service provides advice for men on domestic violence and can be contacted on 1300 766 491.
