Canberrans are reporting incidents and the impact of sexual assault at the rate of once every two hours as the city's crisis service receives a record number of reports.
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A total of 10,859 calls were made to the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre's crisis line throughout the 2012-13 financial year, a record-breaking figure that averaged to a call almost every two hours.
The figure represented a 21 per cent increase from the previous year's total of 8911 calls, dealing with issues ranging from disclosure to ongoing trauma.
Centre staff also attended 262 callouts with police over the year, an increase of more than 40 per cent from the 2011-12 total and 83 per cent from 2010-11 figures.
Chief executive officer Chrystina Stanford said continuing cultural change and increased media coverage of sexual assaults had prompted the surge. ''Over the past five years, there's been a steady growth,'' she said. ''It's something that happens every year for us.''
Ms Stanford said there was increased awareness and understanding surrounding issues of rape and sexual assault within the Canberra community, but actual rates remained hard to prove.
''Only 10 per cent of assaults are ever reported to the police,'' she said. ''But people are feeling more comfortable to report it.''
She said the announcement of a royal commission had an ''immediate effect'' on client numbers, while reporting on the Jill Meagher case had also prompted a spike.
The centre was also working with less funding, falling by more than $70,000 to $1,344,000 in 2012-13. The difference was due to a drop in grants, as recurrent funding from the ACT government increased by about $40,000.
Ms Stanford said funding for community organisations such as the centre was an ongoing issue. ''Certainly, it's something that we work with government on and have ongoing conversations about.''
The growing demand coincides with increased pressure on the Domestic Violence Crisis Service, which recorded a surge in reports of domestic violence of almost 50 per cent over past five years.
The service received 13,959 calls to its emergency line in the past financial year, an increase of 47 per cent from 2008-09. Staff also undertook a record number of crisis visits, but executive director Mirjana Wilson said it was unlikely that an increase in domestic violence would account for the entire surge.