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Research

Our research

Violence against women and children affects everybody. It impacts on the health, wellbeing and safety of a significant proportion of Australians throughout all states and territories and places an enormous burden on the nation’s economy across family and community services, health and hospitals, income-support and criminal justice systems.

KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

News and events

ANROWS hosts events as part of its knowledge transfer and exchange work, including public lectures, workshops and research launches. Details of upcoming ANROWS activities and news are available from the list on the right.

ANROWS

About ANROWS

ANROWS was established by the Commonwealth and all state and territory governments of Australia to produce, disseminate and assist in applying evidence for policy and practice addressing violence against women and children.

KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

Resources

To support the take-up of evidence, ANROWS offers a range of resources developed from research to support practitioners and policy-makers in delivering evidence-based interventions.


Research to policy and practice

Domestic and family violence protection orders in Australia: An investigation of information sharing and enforcement: Key findings and future directions

Throughout the 1980s, every Australian state or territory moved to enact legislation with the purpose of protecting women from intimate partner violence through the provision of a civil court order, or Domestic Violence Protection Order (DVPOs).

Enforcement of DVPOs, including across state and territory borders, is the primary focus of this project, which draws on empirical research conducted in 2014-16. The research highlights that issues that compromise victim safety do not occur in legislation, but in its implementation and enforcement. Further, inconsistencies and competing interests at the intersections of domestic and family violence, child protection, and family law remain an impediment to effective implementation and enforcement of DVPOs. Effectiveness of the National Domestic Violence Order Scheme, a national information system to enable courts and police in different jurisdictions to share relevant information, will be compromised without the removal of inconsistencies, along with the safety of women and their children being given the greatest priority.

 

Publication details

ANROWS Compass (Research to policy and practice papers) are concise papers that summarise key findings of research on violence against women and their children, including research produced under ANROWS’s research program, and provide advice on the implications for policy and practice.


Authors

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR ANNABEL TAYLOR
Director, QCDFVR, CQUniversity

DR NADA IBRAHIM
Senior Research Officer, QCDFVR, CQUniversity

DR HEATHER LOVATT
Senior Research Officer, QCDFVR, CQUniversity

DR SHELLEE WAKEFIELD
Senior Research Officer, QCDFVR, CQUniversity

DR NICOLA CHEYNE 
Researcher, QCDFVR, CQUniversity

MS KATRINA FINN
Senior Research Officer, QCDFVR, CQUniversity


ISSN: 2204-9622 (print) 2204-9630 (online)

6 pp.

Suggested citation

Taylor, A., Ibrahim, N., Lovatt, H., Wakefield, S., Cheyne, N., & Finn, K. (2017). Domestic and family violence protection orders in Australia: An investigation of information-sharing and enforcement with a focus on interstate orders: Key findings and future directions (ANROWS Compass, 07/2017). Sydney, NSW: ANROWS.

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