Glenn Report says family violence costs are soaring

From Scoop:

Study Exposes Soaring Cost of Abuse

Monday, 10 November 2014, 9:41 am
Press Release: Glenn Inquiry 10 November 2014
Study Exposes Soaring Cost of Abuse
Child abuse and violence between partners are estimated to be costing New Zealand up to $7 billion a year and rising, an economic impact study conducted for the Glenn Inquiry has concluded.
This is seven times more than what it was costing 20 years ago, and equates to 60 percent of New Zealand’s total dairy export earnings in 2013. The abuse and violence is nearly twice as costly per head of population here as it is in Australia.
At this rate, the accumulated costs over the next 10 years could approach $80 billion.

Estimations of these kinds always make me suspicious and cynical.

So the cost was $1 billion in 1994 and is 7 times that today.

Where did the original figure come from?

It seems Suzanne Snively and Coopers and Lybrand did a report for MSD which was published in the Social Policy Journal in 1995. Women's Refuge refer to it,

" In 1996, economist Suzanne Snively estimated the cost of domestic violence in New Zealand to be between $1.2 and $5.8 billion per annum."

So up to $5.8 billion in 1995 and up to $7 billion in 2014.

Adjusting for inflation would push the 1995 figure above $7 billion.

On what basis can these costs be described as "soaring?"