Legislative changes to the Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act (Qld) 2012 came into effect at the end of May.

The changes are designed to enhance the protection of victims of domestic and family violence.

A key change is that final protection orders will now be in place for a period of five years instead of two. The Court must give reasons for departing from the new standard of five years. The old ‘standard’ duration of an order was limited to two years and the Court was only able to extend it if there were sufficient reasons to do so.

There are also changes for the Magistrates Court when considering an application for a protection order. There is now a mandatory obligation for the Court to consider the terms of an order regarding parenting matters. The changes are specifically designed to ensure that the protection provided to victims of domestic and family violence by a protection order, is not diminished by an order that is place and made pursuant to the Family Law Act 1975.  This has been an issue when a Family Law order perhaps required victims of domestic violence to continue to interact with the perpetrators of violence at changeovers.

These changes are part of increasing measures being taken to provide greater access to justice and protection to those members of our community who are victims of family and domestic violence. Further changes will soon see a national recognition scheme for domestic and family violence orders.

Published by: Divorce Resource