Long-awaited reforms of intervention orders welcomed by community legal sector

The Victorian community legal sector supports many of the reforms to the family violence intervention order (FVIO) system, announced as part of the Women’s Safety Package yesterday. Community legal centres have long advocated for reform to the FVIO system, which can be slow to respond, difficult to navigate, and overly bureaucratic. We welcome the improvements outlined in the package, and look forward to receiving a more detailed outline of what the reforms will look like in practice.

Key changes include:

• Extending the protections of an FVIO for victim survivors beyond the age of 18, until the FVIO lapses
• Allowing Victorian authorities to issue FVIOs in cases where violence occurred interstate, helping victim-survivors in border towns or those who have moved away for safety reasons
• Implementing safeguards to prevent misidentification of victim survivors of family violence as perpetrators, when courts issue FVIOs and when police issue interim family violence safety notices
• Changes to stalking laws, following a previous inquiry into the inadequacy of stalking protections
• Closing loopholes that allow alleged perpetrators to avoid being served, including while in custody

Louisa Gibbs, CEO at the Federation of Community Legal Centres said: “Community legal centres have acute visibility of the many challenges faced by victim survivors of family violence in obtaining intervention orders that keep them safe, and in accessing justice. The Victorian community legal sector welcomes the reforms to the FVIO system, and looks forward to understanding in greater clarity how the reforms will work.

“As the providers of frontline support to people affected by family violence and the intricacies of the FVIO system, community legal centres are uniquely positioned to identify issues that exist in the FVIO system, and to suggest improvements. We are pleased that our calls for reform have been heard, and urge the Victorian Government to continue to consult our sector in the roll out. “These reforms are a significant step forward, but there is far more to be done to keep victim survivors safe.”

Claudia Fatone, CEO at Women’s Legal Service Victoria said:

“We welcome the Victorian Government's commitment to introduce safeguards to prevent police misidentifying women who are victim-survivors of family violence as respondents on interim family violence safety notices, and to ensure courts recognise and correct police misidentification when issuing family violence intervention orders to make sure victim-survivors of family violence are protected from harm.”

Jo Ellis, Acting CEO at Youthlaw said: “Vital legal protection from family violence should not automatically expire on your 18th birthday. Closing the legal loophole which has seen children ‘age out’ of the protection of family violence intervention orders when they turn 18, will work to increase the safety of young people in Victoria. Children and young people are too often the silent victims of family violence. We support reforms that recognise the agency of young people and their needs as victim survivors in their own right.”Sarah Rodgers, Manager and Principal Lawyer at Hume Riverina Community Legal Service said:

“Enabling victim survivors of family violence to access the protection of a FVIO in Victoria even when an incident may have taken place interstate is a significant step toward improving safety in cross-border communities. This reform will remove a barrier to safety and justice that many of our client's experience.”

Mel Dye, CEO at Southside Justice said: “Community legal centres regularly act for women who have unsuccessfully tried to access legal protections after reporting stalking and harassment to police. We support improving Victoria's stalking laws to clarify fault elements and wording of stalking offences, recognise the seriousness of threats to harm a person's pet, and ensure victims of stalking are not cross-examined by the person who stalked them.”