Motion

That this House —

(1) notes that

a) family violence intervention orders (FVIOs) are a court order that place conditions on the movements and actions of a convicted family violence perpetrator;

b) according to Sentencing Advisory Council Statistics from 2011 to 2020, just over half of all final FVIO were for a term of only six months to less than one year;

c) between 2011 and 2020 the number of breaches of Family Violence Safety Notices and FVIOs sentenced by courts more than doubled, such that one in 11 cases sentenced in the Magistrates’ Court each year involves a breach of such an order; and

d) indefinite FVIOs or those imposed for many decades are rarely made and are only made when a victim has suffered major physical injuries or has almost been killed;

(2) recognises that requiring victims to repeatedly apply to extend a FVIO is

a) retraumatising, costly and time consuming for victims and places the onus on victims for a perpetrator’s behaviour, and

b) can be used by a perpetrator to perpetrate coercive control, establish conflicts of interest with legal services, and seek repeat court adjournments;

(3) recommends that

a) Victoria should move to a model where indefinite FVIOs can be placed on recidivist family violence offenders;

b) where such an order is made, the onus should lie with the perpetrator to remove the order;

and calls on the government to introduce legislation giving effect to such changes as a matter of priority.