Domestic Violence Legislations in Australia

Critical analysis of legislation
government policy

TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Domestic violence legislations in Australia ....................................................................................1
Impact of legislation on families .................................................................................................2
Strengths and weakness of legislation ........................................................................................3
Recommended suggestions .........................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Domestic violence is known as any kind of act of physical and behavioural abuse or
violence which causes harm to other family members by an individual. The legislation related to
the issue of domestic violence resolves the disputes or issues between individuals who share
intimate relationship within domestic settings. Domestic violence can be experienced by any
individual irrespective of their age and gender (Jeffries, Field and Bond, 2015). For improving
the well being of communities and individual safety that safe residential environment or
domestic settings are provided. This can be assured by legislations related to domestic violence.
The report will provide a critical analysis of Australian policies and legislations related to
domestic violence cases.
Domestic violence legislations in Australia
Physical and behavioural abuses are quite common among families with some particular
groups being more vulnerable. In this regard various non-legislative as well as legislative
measures have been adopted by the communities and Australian government. These regulations
declares domestic violence as crime so that offenders can be deter from these actions by suitable
penalties and punishments (McPhedran, 2016). Domestic violence includes personal injuries
including sexual assault, behavioural threat, damage to property and economic abuse, especially
to children. Across Australia there are several regulations such as Domestic violence act 1994
(across South Australia) (SA), Crimes act 2007 of New South Wales (NWS), Family violence
protection act Victoria 2008 and restraining orders act 1997 in western Australia (WA). The key
purpose of these acts is to ensure the personal safety and protection of all individuals who are
exposed or witnessed to domestic violences.
These legislations are also supportive for the individuals who are vulnerable to the
violence events because of domestic violence committed by any other individual. For instance
the families in which women are victim of such violences, there are higher probabilities that
children may also expose to one or other form of violence. In some states such as in Australian
capital territory and Queensland legislations such as “Domestic violence and protection orders
act 2008” also includes domestic relationships along with the family members who can seek help
from the responsible authorities (Quilter and et.al., 2016). Despite having various regulations and
supportive government policies non-reporting events of domestic violence is quite common. It
may be due to fear of embarrassment, inability to access services, fear of perpetrator. Many
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people may not desire to report such incidences to authorities in the fear of getting punishments
for their own family members. Thus for managing such issues apart from the legislations
Australian government also has policies which support the victims of domestic violence. For
instance “National plan to reduce violence against women and children” policy provide strategies
so reduce the violence and to promote equality among family members.
Impact of legislation on families
The family law act 1975 deals with the various issues related to families. The domestic
violence issues become more sensitive when decisions are required regarding children. It has
been quite common in families to have different opinion over topics. However when one family
member dominate others using means of abuse and violence then legislations are helpful to
provide a sense of security. The legislations provide protection orders so that victims can feel
safe in their family. The psychological counselling and fear of punishments also minimise the
possibility for individuals to adopt abusive behaviour and actions (Bugeja and et.al., 2015).
Domestic violence against individuals can lead to severe physical and emotional injuries which
may not heal with time. The severity of violence can also lead to death.
Legislations provides an effective framework so that families can create a safe living
environment. The children who witness and experience the domestic violence are affected to a
great extent in terms of safety and development. The enforcement of such kind of legislations is
vital for the healthy development of child. The regulatory and legislative framework not only
emphasis on giving punishments to the law breakers. However the government policies also aims
at providing counselling to individuals so that by communication and counselling violence can
be reduced and families can live happily. There are huge range of individuals who does not
report violence incidences due to fear or shame.
Some individuals also have fear that if they will report incidence then it will be harmful
for their other family members. The various development and control policies related to domestic
violence involves the integration of health and social care services and regulatory authorities.
The purpose of these legislations is not only to provide punishments to the law breakers but it
aims to improve the integrity and stability in families by assuring the safety of all family
members. For this purpose the jurisdiction for such violences related incidences also provide
extra legislative counselling in which informal recommendations are provided to the family
members (Didi and et.al., 2016). On many occasions counselling are also included as part of the
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sentencing. Thus policy and legislation framework for domestic violence plays an essential role
in recreating the families by resolving their issues. The appropriate measures taken by violence
legislations changes the perspective of individuals towards the family so that victim as well as
other family members can live in safe living environment.
Strengths and weakness of legislation
In Australia it is very easy to seek protection orders and related benefits in case of
domestic violence. Apart from providing legal protection to individual one of the strong feature
of violence regulations is that it is not only restricted to physical abuse or to immediate family
members. For enhancing the impact and value of domestic violence regulations various forms of
violence such as emotional, behavioural and economical are also included in the legislations.
Another strengthening feature of these legislations or policies is protection orders on immediate
basis for the victims. These protection orders are highly significant in reducing frequency and
severity of the domestic violence and by providing constant support assistance of services
(Quilter and et.al., 2016). With the several modifications in the family law the legislations not
only aims at charging penalties for domestic violence but they also provide behavioural and
emotional counselling so that families can be protected from the separation and emotional
trauma for life time.
One of the weakness of domestic violence legislation in Australia is that legislative scope
is not defined properly. In most of the Australian states the legislation are not limited or confined
between spouses or immediate family members only. However there is nee that preventive
legislations for domestic violence must also be applied to extended family members, individuals
related to marriage or individuals having family like relationships (Frohmader, Dowse and Didi,
2015). Though protection orders in domestic violence legislations are effective but they does not
provide the solutions for all victims. It has been observed that protection orders are breached
multiple times and it leads to severe outcomes such as tragic death or life long psychological
disorders especially among young children. The order breach is one of the most significant and
weakest links in effective implementation of legislations for protecting against domestic
violence. The variation in domestic law jurisdictions across Australian states questions the safety
variation in various jurisdictions
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Recommended suggestions
Department of families, community services, indigenous affairs and housing is
responsible for reviewing the matters related to domestic violence issues in Australia. Different
states in Australia has variations in the spectrum and scope of legislation. For instance in some
jurisdiction economic and psychological abuse is considered as domestic violence. However in
other states these terms are not included or expressed in broad term while describing domestic
violence (Donnelly and et.al., 2017). Thus it is recommended that all states must have a uniform
or similar definitions and terminologies so that all individuals can receive better support. The
existing penalties and legislative framework is effective enough in terms of protecting families
from abuses and violence. However there is need to make regulations and policies more firm so
that breaches related to protection orders can be eliminated. Suitable amendments and
monitoring framework must be developed for violence legislations so that breaches issues are
considered on serious note by police and other responsible authorities. It is also recommended
that police, investigating officers and organisations must be supportive and understanding so that
victims can easily report their experience without hesitation or fear (Roberts, Chamberlain and
Delfabbro, 2015). Thus it can be stated that the existing legislative framework for the violence
events are adequate but there is need to improve consistency in their enforcement.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above study that government policies must consider the well
being and safety of every individuals. The legislative support must be provided to communities
so that incidences of domestic violences can be minimised. With development and growth the
form and approaches of domestic violence is also changing. Thus it is required that responsible
authorities must asses such changes so that legislation frameworks can be improved. It is also
concluded from the study that apart from legislative framework effective policies must also be
bring into action so that support to affected families can be increased.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bugeja, L. and et.al., 2015. Domestic/family violence death reviews: An international
comparison. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 16(2), pp.179-187.
Didi, A. and et.al., 2016. Violence against women with disabilities: is Australia meeting its
human rights obligations?. Australian Journal of Human Rights, 22(1), pp.159-177.
Donnelly, S. and et.al., 2017. Adult safeguarding legislation and policy rapid realist literature
review.
Frohmader, C., Dowse, L. and Didi, A., 2015. Preventing violence against women and girls with
disabilities: Integrating a human rights perspective. Hum. Rts. Defender, 24, p.11.
Jeffries, S., Field, R. and Bond, C.E., 2015. Protecting Australia's children: a cross-jurisdictional
review of domestic violence protection order legislation. Psychiatry, psychology and
law, 22(6), pp.800-813.
McPhedran, S., 2016. A systematic review of quantitative evidence about the impacts of
Australian legislative reform on firearm homicide. Aggression and violent behavior, 28,
pp.64-72.
Quilter, J. and et.al., 2016. The Definition and Significance of Intoxication in Australian
Criminal Law: A Case Study of Queensland's Safe Night out Legislation. QUT L.
Rev., 16, p.42.
Roberts, D., Chamberlain, P. and Delfabbro, P., 2015. Women's experiences of the processes
associated with the family court of Australia in the context of domestic violence: A
thematic analysis. Psychiatry, psychology and law, 22(4), pp.599-615.
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