The Federal Government has allocated more than $100 million to the Second Action Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children over a four-year period.
The plan has the full support of all territories and states and will build on the work of the First Action Plan to address domestic and family violence, achieve better outcomes for women and children and reduce the stigma surrounding these issues.
The Australian Bureau of Statistic’s (ABS) 2012 Personal Safety Survey found that approximately 17 per cent of Australian women over the age of 18 had been the subject of physical or sexual violence by a previous partner since the age of 15. Of these women, 61 per cent were caring for a child when the violence happened, and nearly half (48 per cent) reported the children had seen or heard the violence.
Initiatives that will be supported by the federal government’s funding include: a prototype of the National Domestic Violence Order (DVO) Scheme that will be active across all of Australia; national data collection, including $300,000 for ABS to produce data sets on both victims and offenders; and, more investment in 1800RESPECT, the first professional telephone and online counselling service in Australia.
Family and domestic violence in Queensland
In Queensland, The Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Act 2012 is the operative legislation. Emotional, physical and financial violence or coercive, dominating or controlling behaviour are covered by the act, within family, intimate personal and informal care relationships.
Under the act a court can issue a domestic violence order, to protect a person from family or domestic violence. Police can also issue police protection orders that can be issued immediately by police and are short-term domestic violence orders.
If you need a family lawyer in Brisbane, our experienced family law experts can talk you through your options.
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