Nationally, the ABS found there were 2.2 million assaults in 2011-12, up 700,000 or 44 per cent on 2010-11. Assault threats made over the phone, via email or social media also jumped nearly 25 per cent, from 170,700 in 2010-11 to 213,100. "The proportion of victims who experienced three or more incidents of physical assault increased from around a quarter of victims in 2010-11 to a third in 2011-12," said Fiona Dowsley, director of the National Centre for Crime and Justice Statistics. Physical assaults include acts such as being pushed, grabbed, shoved, choked, shot, burnt, being hit with something such as a bat or being deliberately hit by a vehicle, and could occur in public or in the home. The 539,800 Australians aged 15 or older assaulted in 2011-12 were 3 per cent of the population, compared with 2.7 per cent in 2010-11. Alcohol or other substances contributed to more than half the attacks. Half the assault victims surveyed said they had not reported their attacks. Superintendent Richard Watkins from the force's business intelligence and performance unit said the two sets of data were being reviewed to see "what steps we can take to better align our data." Supt Watkins said the force had also moved to encourage more reporting of family violence. "We have seen significant increases in assault data for two years running and will continue working towards improving collection of this data," he said. Victoria had the third lowest rate of assault victims, but the second lowest rate of reporting. One-in-four said they had been assaulted three or more times. The ABS estimate of 588,600 assaults in Victoria in 2011-12, compares with 42,076 recorded by police. The ABS found 134,900 assault victims in Victoria, the police just 39,849. Last year, the Herald Sun revealed more than 25,000 violent assaults reported to 000 were not recorded by police despite repeated calls by the Auditor-General for the data to be used.