RESEARCH REPORT Domestic and family violence protection orders in Australia: an investigation of information-sharing and enforcement with a focus on interstate orders: Final report
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
This work is part of the ANROWS Horizons series. ANROWS Horizons (Research reports) are in-depth reports on empirical research produced under ANROWS’s research program.
Authors
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR ANNABEL TAYLOR
Director, Queensland Centre for Domestic and Family Violence Research (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
ISBN: 978-1-925372-64-9 (paper) 978-1-925372-65-6 (online)
126 pp.
Suggested citation
Taylor, A., Ibrahim, N., Lovatt, H., Wakefield, S., Cheyne, N., & Finn, K. Domestic and family violence protection orders in Australia: an investigation of information-sharing and enforcement with a focus on interstate orders: Final report (ANROWS Horizons, 07/2017). Sydney: ANROWS.