Victoria Becomes Latest State to Enact National Domestic Violence Order Scheme Legislation
Monday 24 October 2016 @ 11.37 a.m. | Crime
Victoria has passed the National Domestic Violence Order Scheme Act 2016, which implements a number of the measures agreed upon by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in 2015 to provide a national scheme for domestic violence orders. However, the Victorian Government has been critical of the way in which the scheme has been rolled out, and has announced that they will not be commencing the Act until they “are satisfied that it will not jeopardise the safety of victims, or impose an unreasonable burden on our police and courts.”
Currently, someone who has a Domestic Violence Order in one state must register it in a different state’s court for it to be enforceable in that state. The National Domestic Violence Order Scheme was designed to ensure that orders were automatically recognised across Australian states. For more information about the scheme, see TimeBase's earlier article.
Victoria’s Criticisms
The Victorian Attorney-General Martin Pakula has said that while Victoria intends to fulfil its COAG commitment to the legislation, they are concerned about the mechanics of information sharing between states. While a comprehensive information sharing system is under development, this will not be completed for some time. In the meantime, an interim system has been introduced that relies on CrimTrac’s national police reference system (NPRS). According to the Attorney-General’s second reading speech on the Bill in Parliament:
“If police are called to an incident and a person says that they have a domestic violence order from another jurisdiction, police will not be able to confirm this order, or its status or conditions, simply by checking the NPRS. In most cases, we expect police will have to contact the interstate court that made the DVO to get a copy of the order. This may not be possible for some days, as most other states and territories do not operate a court registry that is open after hours or at the weekend.
This is not an acceptable basis for a national scheme.”
As a result, he said
“We will not commence the bill until we are satisfied that the interim information technology system will adequately support the enforcement of recognised domestic violence orders under the national domestic violence order scheme, and will not put the safety of victims of family violence at risk. We owe it to victims of family violence to get the scheme right. The stakes are too high for us to get it wrong. For this reason, the bill does not contain a default commencement date, and will not be commenced until the government is assured the interim information technology system will not jeopardise victim safety.”
Other Jurisdictions
A number of jurisdictions have already passed legislation implementing a framework for the national scheme:
ACT - Family Violence Act 2016
Qld - Domestic and Family Violence Protection and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2016 - see Bill article
Tas - Domestic Violence Orders (National Recognition) Act 2016 - see Bill article
The South Australian Parliament is currently considering the Intervention Orders (Prevention of Abuse)(Recognition of National Domestic Violence Orders) Amendment Bill 2016.
TimeBase is an independent, privately owned Australian legal publisher specialising in the online delivery of accurate, comprehensive and innovative legislation research tools including LawOne and unique Point-in-Time Products.
Sources:
National Domestic Violence Order Scheme Act 2016, Bill Explanatory Memorandum and Bill Second Reading Speech - available from TimeBase's LawOne Service
