Domestic Violence in Australia: Laws, Implications for Health Workers and Patient Care

This paper discusses the laws and acts related to domestic violence in Australia, its impact on health, and the role of nurses and midwives in addressing the victims. It also highlights the need for collaboration with other agencies for the safety of victims.

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Introduction:
Domestic violence is a sequence of conducts which comprises of spoken, physical, sexual,
economic, and psychological abuse by instilling fear in an attempt by the guilty party to gain and
retain supremacy over the other. Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation maintains that
Domestic violence is immoral and criminal behavior. Domestic Violence harms the mental and
physical health along with the future life prospects of victims. Any physical or mental traumatic
behavior is to be blamed on the culprit and not the victim. Trigger influences, for instance, drug
and alcohol misuse, anxiety, emotional disturbance or incitement by the victim does not
rationalize the violent behavior. The investigation into the violence, and provision of culprit
plans are supported, these should not be done at the expenditure of services or means of victims
of domestic violence.
Family Law Act of 1975 in Australia describes domestic violence as violent, intimidating or
other activities by an individual that intimidates, controls or frightens the member of individual’s
family. The Act mentions deeds of violence that takes place amongst people who were or are in a
familiar relationship in household backgrounds. Domestic violence likewise comprises violence
amongst companions of both genders, as well as same-sex affairs. Nevertheless, the word can be
transformed by each state's law and can widen the range of domestic violence, for example in
Victoria family violence is defined as seeing any sort of violence in the household in the
relationship which lived like a family. Between 2010 and 2012, at an average every 10 days a
man died because of family violence, with an aggregate of 75 between the duration. Whereas in
2015, women were nearly 65% of all fatalities in family domestic violence connected murder in
Australia which amounted to 103 dead. In the middle of 2014 to 2016, 264,028 domestic
violence cases were informed and documented. As per the research , it has been found that 80%
of women and 95% of men didn’t seek any assistance even after being abused by their existing
partner.. The anticipation of more violence, fear of retaliation from the existing partner,
emotional attachment, disbelief, embarrassment or shame et cetera was cited as the most shared
reason for not taking the help of a law enforcement agency. 560 men and 2,800 women during
2014-2015 were admitted in hospital because of the assault of a partner or spouse. It is also seen
that one out three women and one out of five men experiences violence through existing or
former inmate after the age of 15.

Legislation & Codes:
There are several laws, act, codes, etc. to report any issues of domestic or family violence. As per the
studies, it has been found that every one woman out of three experiences certain kind of physical
violence at least once in their lifetime throughout Australia. In order to control and address this
issue, there are several domestic or family violence laws differing from state to state. In other
words, there are separate set of laws and systems to address domestic violence in each territories
and state forming a diverse legal rule throughout the country (Swannell, 2015). There are several
forms of domestic violence that comes under criminal offences. The victims of these issues
inducing child, family members witness etc. in extreme scenario can lead to death, long term
mental problems, psychological issues or serious physical injury (AVERT Family Violence:
Collaborative Responses in the Family Law System, n.d.). Thus, the legal system plays a vital
role in the society or community in terms of preventing and addressing these issues. However,
there is not a particular or single national legislation which targets domestic violence but there
are in total 8 different territories and state legal schemes enabling victims of domestic violence to
seek protection through courts and police. Additionally, even commonwealth laws form
domestic violence provisions (Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act 2012, 2017). The
way these laws provisions and policy interact or operate have major impact on the well being and
safety of the victims. There are 5 common areas of low that was developed in response to
domestic violence:
1. Protection Order: this varies from state or territories
2. Criminal law- these includes law of stalking and assaulting.
3. Child protection law: this varies includes abuses against the children and the effect of
domestic violence upon their life.
4. Family Law: This includes parenting orders related to the safety of the children from
domestic or family violence as one of them from state to territories.
5. Compensation Legislation against criminal injustice: this provides avenues to the victims
to request compensation against the issues which varies from state and territories.

New South Wales: The Domestic and Violence act, 2017 which apprehends domestic violence
order. Under this act the former and current spouses, family relatives including indigenous kin
members, residents of residential facilities, career abused victims, housemates and children of
victims.
Australian Capital Territory: The domestic violence agencies act of 1986 along with domestic
violence and protection act of 2008, protects family members, present or former wife’s, parents
and even the children of the abused person.
Northern Territory: The Domestic and Family Violence act, 2007 which covers de facto,
current and former spouses, relatives which includes indigenous or aboriginal, carer abused
victims, housemates, those or guardians having access rights, partners, elderly people and
children of the abused person,
Queensland: The Domestic and Family violence protection act protects former or present wife’s
(includes biological parents of a child and de factors) family, children, relatives of victims, those
in interpersonal relationships and informal carer.
Southern Australia: Domestic Violence act (1994) procedure act (1921) and prevention of
abuse bill (2009). In this there is no restriction on relationship which means any child or
suspected victim who may faced the effects of abuse, former and current spouse, defendant or
the children of the victim, de facto.
Tasmania: the family violence act, 2004 protects spouses, de facto and significant relationships
under relationship under Relationships Act, 2008.
Victoria: Magistrates Court Act (2004) and Family Violence Protection Act (2008). This act
protects former or present wife’s, domestic partners, relatives and de factos which includes kids
and carer of the abused person.
Western Australia: The Restraining Orders Act of 1997 which comes under domestic violence
and restraining order. This act like the previous acts protects former or present wife’s, intimate
partners, family members and the children who have experienced violence. The family members
of the victims can also apply for protection under this act.

It is mandatory in all states and territory to report child abuse case, when any professional comes
in contact with the victim. This process is known as mandatory notification or in other words
mandatory reporting. This applies to all the professionals working in legal, health, educational
and childcare services (Roberts, n.d.). Apart from the above state and territory law, there is an
obligation which comes under Family Law Act for the registrars, court counsellors, court staff,
family consultants, family dispute resolution practitioners, independent and children’s lawyers to
inform the authorities responsible for children protection when they feel that a child is being
abused or is at a risk of getting abused. There is also mandatory to report if an abduct person is
harmed or abused in Northern Territory of Australia. I t is treated as an offence, if any individual
witnessing any harm or violence to another person or if a person is at risk forbids or do not report
to police in Northern Territory (Violence against women and domestic violence laws, n.d.). This
is also common in Tasmanian law, where it is mandatory to report family violence in ration to
adults.
This is also a law existing in various states across Australia which allows
the victims to claim for compensation for all the harms suffered as a consequence of abuse. The
law of state and territory permits the victims of domestic violence to ask for compensation for
the injuries or loss arising from any type of offence. These schemes are referred as criminal
Injuries compensation (Fact file: Domestic violence in Australia, 2016). These are various
benefits of these schemes such as some allows the victims to obtain a lump sum amount while
the other schemes bear all the cost and expenses of the victim that they incur during these
injuries which may include medical service cost, dental cost and the specialist counselling
services.
Implications of health worker & delivery of patient care:
It is often considered that there is a unique relationship between a patient and their nurse which
often develops into an unbreakable bond between them. This gives the patient confidence and
support in sharing their experiences which may not come under medical requirement. Similarly,
the nurses who are concerned about their patient safety, often goes beyond their core job and
duties (Easteal, Young, & Carline, 2018). This understanding between the patient and the nurses

has expanded the nursing role which in particular is significant in identifying and intervening
into situation where there is a chance or probability of domestic violence.
The reaction of nurses to women in these situations can have an intense significance on their
readiness to search for help or to share their suffering. When the victim feels she is being listened
to by the nurse, this experience can empower the victim. The nurse should further try to instill
belief in the conversation for the victim by empathizing her replies to the victim’s experience for
example acknowledging the scary nature of the victim’s suffering, that the victim must have had
to muster a lot of courage to talk about her experience and the listener being a nurse is pleased
that she helped her patient to lighten herself up by speaking about her experience, that the victim
does not merit to be treated the way she has been treated (Madigan, 2018). The nurse should not
blame the victim in any way for her suffering with the replies which the victim could perceive as
it was victim’s fault to continue to stay with the abuser, or the victim could have reacted in a
very different manner to avoid the confrontation and the result thereafter or try to take her back
to the incident which brought the victim to health care service. The nurse could further assess
and help in the safety of the victim (Domestic violence Laws in Australia, 2009). The nurse
should try to get to know whether the victim feels safe enough to return home after the
appointment, whether the victim’s children are safe or not, whether the victim requires instant
place of security, whether the victim should contemplate a different exit from the building of
nurse, in case the instant security of the victim is not an issue the nurse should try to figure out
along with the victim whether in near future the victim would be at risk, whether the victim has
any plan of action when she would be subjected to future risk, the nurse should try and help the
victim make an emergency course of action such as the place victim should seek shelter in case
of emergency, what belongings she should carry with her, and the people she could contact for
support, whether the victim has an emergency contact number (Family Violence Act 2016 ,
2018). The nurse should document these action plan together with the victim for future reference.
Previously, the nurses used to be cautious in approaching the patient of domestic violence due to
various reasons like as it does not come under their duty to inquire a patient about the violence or
it may offend victim. The lack of proper education and specific training were also some of the
reasons behind it (Power, n.d.). But as per studies it has been identified that midwives’ nurses or

health professionals as a major source of their support. It has been found that the victims of
domestic violence especially women do not get offended when they are inquired about their past
if it is being asked by a trained and a caring midwives or nurse (What causes domestic abuse and
how can nurses effectively support abused women?, 2010). Hence the role of a nurse and a
midwife is significant as they understand the reality of domestic violence and the impact it can
have over the health of the victims. There are several steps that a nurse or healthcare
professionals must consider while addressing victim of domestic violence. The inquiry about the
sensitive information should be conducted in a private or safe environment so that their children
and partner are not there.
Conclusion:
From the above paper it can be concluded that domestic violence is not only limited to women
but even the children, family members, intimate partners or relatives of the victims. These
violence’s includes different behavior’s such as physical, verbal, sexual, psychological, financial
or even emotional abuses. These eventually have drastic impact over the health of the victim and
their family members which can be described as a violent and unlawful act where one person
tries to control or retain power over another person. There are various laws and acts which varies
across the states and territories of Australia which addresses domestic violence (Child protection
Australia 2015–16, 2017). The role of nurses and midwives is very significant in addressing the
victims of domestic violence. They should be aware about all the laws and act in relation to
domestic violence so that they can care and at the same time refer the victim to appropriate path
ways (Alshammari & McGarry, 2018). The medical professionals should collaborate with other
bodies or agencies responsible for safety of the women and the children so that the victims are
safe. Nurses should also figure out and report to police if in case they suspect or feel the life of
the victim is at stake.
References
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