DOMESTIC violence experts are warning of a “significant” increase in the use of new technology being used to stalk women, as new figures reveal one in five Australian women have been a stalking victim.

An estimated 19 per cent of women (1.6 million) and 7.8 per cent of men (663,800) aged 18 years and over have been stalked, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reports.

Stalking took the form of loitering around homes, following people and watching them. In almost half of all cases involving women being stalked, 46 per cent, they were harassed electronically, telephoned or emailed.

Women were overwhelmingly stalked by men — in 95 per cent of cases — while male victims were equally likely to be harassed by other men or women.

Police Minister Troy Grant told The Saturday Telegraph it was “extremely concerning that less than half of those who had experienced stalking contacted police about the most recent episode”.

“Most worrying is the growing trend of cyberstalking.

“In today’s modern world, technology is more advanced and accessible than ever before and unfortunately we’re seeing people using everyday devices such as smartphones as weapons.

“Inflicting harm on others by texting and dialling and creating fake social media accounts is a crime.”

Women’s Legal Service NSW executive officer Helen Campbell said the statistics reflected the fact technology was increasingly being used as a weapon against women.

“Over the past few years we have seen a significant increase in technology-facilitated stalking and abuse,” she said. “Technology such as the internet, social media, mobile phones, computers and surveillance devices are being used to stalk and perpetrate abuse on a person.

“In particular, we are seeing a concerning trend of technology being regularly used against women by perpetrators as a tactic within a wider context of domestic violence.”

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Of the estimated 1.5 million women who experienced stalking by a male, about two-thirds knew the stalker in the most recent episode, the bureau found.

ABS National Centre for Crime and Justice Statistics director William Milne said while both sexes were more likely to be stalked by someone they knew, women were more likely to feel anxiety or fear as a result.

“The results also show that women were significantly more likely to experience stalking by a male than by a female perpetrator, whereas men were equally likely to experience stalking by either sex,” he said.

Rosalie O’Neale, senior adviser for eSafetyWomen, the agency responsible for online safety for women, said feedback from their workshops to frontline workers showed “overwhelmingly” most cases of family violence involve technology-facilitated abuse.