Five per cent of all homicides in Australia each year involve a child killing a parent, with sons most often targeting fathers and daughters their mothers, a landmark report has found.

The Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) released Parricide in Australia on October 8, drawing on 35 years of data from 1989 to 2024.

AIC deputy director Dr Rick Brown said the study highlighted a greater need to consider parricide - the murder of a parent by their child - in policy responses to family violence .

Dr Brown said parricide was a distinct form of domestic homicide and homicide overall because of the relatively even distribution of male and female victimisation.

Fifty-four per cent of the victims were fathers and 46 per cent were mothers, according to the report.

Lead author Dr Sama

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