DOMESTIC VIOLENCE LAWS: QUICK FACTS
New domestic violence laws come into effect today in Australia.
From now on, domestic violence will not only be about physical abuse, but the definition has been widened to include:
- Stalking;
- Repeated derogatory taunts;
- Intentionally damaging or destroying property; and
- Preventing someone having contact with family and friends.
The federal government hopes that the change will encourage more victims to seek help.
The message is: Just because you have not been physically hurt, does not mean you or your children have not suffered domestic violence.
The Federal Attorney-General, Nicola Roxon, who has overseen the changes, said much family violence remained ”invisible to the legal system”.
“Unfortunately, more than half of the parenting cases that come to courts involve allegations by one or both parties that the other has been violent,” Ms Roxon said.
The new definitions of abuse will be taken into consideration in child custody cases.
The Family Law Act has been amended to say: ”A child is exposed to family violence if the child sees or hears family violence or otherwise experiences the effects of family violence.”
The new legislation has divided male and female activist groups.
The chief executive officer of the National Council of Single Mothers and their Children, Terese Edwards, said: ”It clearly sets out what behaviour is unacceptable, including physical and emotional abuse.”
Ms Edwards said the changes addressed the exposure of children to family violence, which increased the risk of ”behavioural and learning difficulties in the short term, and of developing mental health problems later in life”.
Barry Williams, president of the Lone Fathers’ Association is concerned that courts will now be too quick to believe allegations of abuse.
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43 Responses to this article
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Sally June 7, 2012
I see a whole lot of unproven allegations from women against their childrens Fathers to stop them seeing the kids just because the mother wants to keep the Father away because she is angry. This is happening everyday and all those women who know how to work the system just got some more ammunition to use to get back at their partners.
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Alice Shaw June 7, 2012
In actual fact Sally, research has shown that false allegations by women in the family law court are at extremely low numbers, as such to be negligable. It’s disheartening that any time laws are put in place to protect women and children, people come out swinging at women, assuming that they are simply looking for an excuse to discredit their partners.
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Sally June 7, 2012
Alice, I work in a law firm that specialises in family court matters and I can tell you that you are incorrect to state that false allegations are at an all time low. In fact when the Howard government bought in assumed 50/50 care the incident of false allegations of violence against men went up 83%.
It is a sad fact that women lie to punish their ex husbands without any thought for the child/father relastionship that is damaged, sometimes forever.
Women learn how to manipulate the courts to suit their own agendas and unfortunatly with the long court process some men can go years without any contact with their children.
You want people to take notice of domestic violence however you seem to think that all women tell the truth and all men must be in the wrong.
The whole family court system is designed to favour the women in 90% of cases.-
Nelly June 7, 2012
“The whole family court system is designed to favour the women in 90% of cases.”
Where is that stat from Sally? Just interested to know. My experience with the family court system was that there was a significant burden of proof placed upon me (rightly so) to prove I had been subjected to DV. Given that it usually one person’s word against another’s it makes it very hard to get to the truth. I certainly didn’t feel favoured in any aspect of the process. Not in the least.
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Alice Shaw June 7, 2012
Sally at no point did I say that all women are telling the truth nor did I say all men are in the wrong. What I said was, false allegations are very low. I would be interested to know where you got the 83% statistic from (I am genuinely asking). I have both family law court and domestic violence experience. I wonder whether the “false allegations” you are referring to were actually proven false or whether they were deemed to be unprovable due to lack of evidence. Fear is a powerful control mechanism.
I would like to point out that when I speak of domestic violence I am speaking about women who have been victims of DV and the men who have perpetrated it. I have never suggested that all men are perpetrators.
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Galactic Woman June 7, 2012
A problem with working in a particular field is that you begin to generalise to the whole population from your experience in your own workplace.
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Nelly June 7, 2012
Where is the “like” button. Well said Alice!
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Galactic Woman June 7, 2012
Sally, men know how to work that system too.
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Catherine June 7, 2012
It seems to me that physical violence in the home is still seen as not as serious as violence against a stranger. I have always thought that putting “domestic” in front of the word violence immediately allows us to diminish its impact. Assault is assault; just because the perpetrator is someone you love or depend upon, idoes not make it less of a crime. Stalking is also a crime – do we really need to categorise it as “domestic”? Looking at the issue in that context, Bullying is Bullying – once again do we need to call it Domestic?
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Valerie Parv June 7, 2012
It wasn’t until I did my own Counselling Diploma that I understood that abuse takes many forms including verbal and emotional. This was a real lightbulb moment when I stopped thinking of abuse as purely physical and understood why I had such a problem with a male relative – he was a bully and a master at verbal put-downs, sarchasm and cruel comments in the guise of humour.
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Alice Shaw June 7, 2012
Domestic violence is a crime. It happens every day. It is not a private matter to be sorted out in the home, it is a public matter, affecting the mental and physical health and well-being of women and children. No woman or child should be subjected to abuse. The false allegation argument is false itself and it is a smokescreen designed to hide the very real effects of domestic violence on all those exposed to it.
Words do hurt. Stalking does hurt. Controlling a person’s every movement, phone calls, finances, social contacts, computer time, and the list goes on, is a form of violence. Walk for a day in the shoes of a woman who has done everything to escape, who is beaten down, depressed, exhausted and constantly terrified due to the threats of being taken to court, having her children taken from her, to being exposed as “mentally ill” (the catch cry of the abuser). Believe me, until you’ve been screamed at, belittled, harrassed, socially isolated and told every single day that you are nothing but a worthless lump who will be crushed if you so much as answer back, then you may not understand just how awful it truly is.. and then spare a thought for the child who has to endure this.
Domestic violence must be stopped. The only way to end it is to bring it into the open and enforce very real consequences for perpetrating.
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Sally June 7, 2012
………………”The only way to end it is to bring it into the open and enforce very real consequences for perpetrating”
and yet when women lie about DV there are no consequences for their actions.
Double standard much??.-
Nelly June 7, 2012
Are there no consquences for lying in the family court? Wow. I didn’t know that.
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Sally June 7, 2012
Nelly, Read the link below. The magistrate said he did NOT beleive the mothers version of events, and yet he gave her sole custody. So the mother LIED and still got sole custody and no consequesnces for lying.
She was actually REWARDED for lying.-
Nelly June 7, 2012
Yes thanks I did read it. I don’t believe that is a common situation. Nor was the mother proven to have lied.
I think it’s interesting you are so passionate about this “false allegation” stuff. It’s not really the thrust of the story or the changes to the legislation.
I believe the most important thing is that people (men, women and particularly children) are protected from violence. DV takes many forms. This legislation simply acknowledges that.
Muddying the argument with “yeah but some people lie” isn’t really adding to the discussion.
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Galactic Woman June 7, 2012
ONE magistrate’s words, Sally. There are many factors involved in deciding which parent the child should go with and, even though the magistrate didn’t believe the mother, clearly there were reasons for leaving the children where they were. I’m bothered by your gross generalisations, Sally. No, it is not always the men in the wrong. But men are good liars too and many have a way of making third parties believe that they’ve been horribly wronged by a vexatious ex-wife. I’m not sure that 100% of the men your law firm represents are innocent angels but it’s only natural that you’d advocate in favour of your own clients.
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Sally June 7, 2012
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Nelly June 7, 2012
“Even after I told your mum what I decided, I think she still believed in her heart that your dad had hurt you.
“I knew your mum would look after you really well. I decided not to make your mum let you see your dad, even though your dad wanted this very much. I thought it would make things harder for you if I had done this.”
That hardly sounds like someone being accused of lying on purpose or being rewarded for lying. The magistrate says “I think she still believed in her heart that your dad had hurt you.”
I think it actually sounds like a very sad story which the magistrate did his absolute best to make a good judgement on. It sounds like there were no winners in this one. Sad all round.
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MidnightBlue June 7, 2012
>Domestic violence is a crime. It happens every day. It is not a >private matter to be sorted out in the home, it is a public >matter, affecting the mental and physical health and well->being of women and children.
Alice, violence affects anyone who is victim to it. Men are often subjected to violence by other, bigger, younger or fitter men. I know of several men who are bullied by other men, both emotionally and physically. It isn’t only women and children. You seem to be a misandrist – at least that is how you come across to me. Some of the new laws are so vague in definition as to be near ludicrous.
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Alice Shaw June 7, 2012
Can I just reiterate in the context of the discussion here, I am speaking about women victims of domestic violence and the men who perpetrate that violence. I am not suggesting that violence doesn’t happen to men. I am not suggesting that all women are innocent. I am not suggesting that women do not perpetrate violence. I am speaking within the context of the new laws and the many years of experience I have in this field..
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Alice Shaw June 7, 2012
It seems to me that whenever women stand up for other women in the context of domestic violence, they are labelled a man hater. I don’t hate men because I support women who have been exposed to domestic violence. My comments have been generalised by those who disagree with me and then I’ve been accused of being something I’m not. I support healthy debate and I hope it continues here today.. but thanks to that accusation I respecfully bow out.
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Sally June 7, 2012
Alice,
I have seen your comments on a number of posts here and I can tell you from an outside observer, you do come across as someone who would take the side of a woman over a man before any facts are presented. You seem to paint all men with the same brush. It is all there online if anyone cares to look through past comments you have made.
Perhaps you have personal experience and you are bringing your prejudice to all your writings and opinions.
I am not having a go at you; I am just telling you how you come across in internet forums when certain topics come up.-
Mac June 7, 2012
oh, for heaven’s sake “Sally”, move on
You have a lot of time on your hands if you spend it going back and tracking people’s comments online, lol
You come across as someone who has a personal issue yourself – would you like to share your story?Could you also please provide evidence regarding your claims? A sad story from the Telegraph does not substantiate your claim that the incidence of false allegations against men went up by 83%
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Leah June 7, 2012
“Mac” (see what I did there???)
I am guessing you think you might know who ‘Sally” is and you are there for bringing personal issues to this site.Not cool in my opinion.
But to answer your question about facts, please have a look at this site. I actually work in the same law firm as Sally and was the person who gave her the info about false reporting in family court matters. Please visit this site and familiarise yourself with the facts and figures quoted.
It would seem that there are a few people commenting on this story that are bring personal experience into the debate and are “projecting’ onto the comments made by others. This does not make for a healthy debate and further clouds the issue.
I will make the assumption that you have had a case before the courts and this discussion could be a little too close to home. I hope it all works out for you soon.
http://www.familylawwebguide.com.au/news/pg/news/view/936/index.php&filter=17
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Galactic Woman June 7, 2012
Hear! Hear!
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Aeron Winters June 7, 2012
As someone who has suffered both physical and mental abuse in past marriages, I can tell you I am very happy to see the definition of domestic violence broadened to include both types. I recovered from the physical abuse quite quickly and, once out of that relationship, I recovered my confidence reasonably quickly too. As for the mental abuse I suffered (being told I was worthless, useless, undesirable, worth more dead than alive, I could go on…) and being controlled to the point of not having contact with family or friends (who would have or could have been a support network) I am still suffering the effects of that fifteen years on. I am happily married to a wonderfully supportive husband, who would never abuse me, or my daughter in anyway, and yet I still suffer from very low self esteem, bouts of depression and lack of confidence in my abilities. I need frequent reassurance, which thankfully he is more than happy to give. I have come a long way, but I still have far to go. Changing the laws about domestic violence to include mental abuse as well is a very good thing in my book.
In response to all those above who seem to think that if a woman says she has been abused, she must be lying, or at least exaggerating the truth, I can assure you that nothing I could imagine (read lie about) would be as horrible as the very real abuse I suffered. I also believe that any person, man or woman, who truly loves their children would ever lie about their ex, not matter how much it served their own end. Children are not pawns to be held up as some prize and any parent who loves their children would never do so. I have never stopped my daughter from having contact with her father, he simply has never made any attempt…it may have something to do with the fact that he is still avoiding paying child support and has done for over 16 years now.
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blue June 7, 2012
Aeron, I hear you.
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The Huntress June 7, 2012
@ Aeron
Exceptionally well said. I been in three abusive relationships (you would think I would have learned by the first time) and had a child with the third. We managed to escape, but not without great loss. I was punished each and every time I left and the situation with my son was simply horrifying. The things my ex could get away with and I was powerless to do anything about it – even when I moved 2500km away.
I am still crippled to this day as a victim of domestic violence. My 7 year old has a diagnosed mental illness that correlates with what I have described to his mental health team. I did my best to try and play fair and allow my son to still see his biological dad, but he took advantage and punished me further. Nothing like being refused to have your child returned as promised and then knowing your child wasn’t even in the care of his biological dad, but his grandmother. I was too frightened to take him to court due to Howards 50/50 shared care, which would have forced me to move back to the town I had left and endure further abuse as punishment.
The strange thing is though, that when I eventually got my son back his dad virtually disappeared off the scene. Maybe 1 or 2 phone calls a year (birthday and Christmas) if we’re lucky. Maybe a flying visit for a day every 18 months. No birthday presents. No Christmas cards or presents. Thankfully my little boy has stopped asking why his biological dad is too busy. I hate having to lie and say he’s just busy with work, instead of telling him he’s a messed up alcoholic.
I’m so lucky to have a wonderful man in my life who respects me and treats my (our) boy like his own son. I am grateful for the expansion of the domestic violence laws to include non-physical abuse. I will never be able to go through the legal system for justice, but I truly hope that anyone else experiencing domestic violence will now find it easier to be believed and find protection from their abusive partners.
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Ilsa Evans June 7, 2012
Well said Alice Shaw, you’re quite right that false allegations of DV by mothers is actually quite low. Every reputable study has backed this up. In fact one of the major problems rising out of the 2006 amendments was that women were being advised NOT to mention existing violence for fear of being labelled an ‘unfriendly’ parent by the magistrate – which did happen. But this discussion actually deflects from the main achievement of the new changes – that the rights of the child to safety/security have now been prioritised over all else. It’s about time. Congratulations Nicola Roxon, and thank-you.
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Katie June 7, 2012
I have worked in a child and family psychiatry clinic to which children were referred with behaviour and emotional problems. These may be the result of parental conflict (but could also be due to other factors such as bullying or learning difficulties at school – school being another part of the assessment) .
If our task was to work with the family to resolve the referring problem, family interviews – both individually and together – were the standard means of assessment. People told their stories – their perception of the family story – as best they c/w/ould, and with varying degrees of openness depending on how threatened they felt.
Of course people c/w/ould lie, were defensive and/or c/w/ould not face up to facts of which we (the therapists) might remain unaware. Therapy – personal change – is often as much to do with perception as with facts. In this context, disturbing or dangerous facts do not always emerge, as the family system – a complex of emotional and financial interdependencies – may “tend to protect itself”.
But if “family breakdown” occurs, “all hell breaks loose”, often revealing previously suppressed accusations. These may or may not be “facts”.
For the best picture of a family, in my view there is no substitute for fly-on-the-wall or scene of the natural habitat. But rarely was systematic home observation carried out in psych assessment. It is expensive, time-consuming and “invasive”. But it may be the best way to get near an objective view of family relationships and behaviours, even under benign circumstances.
Personal privacy – he-said-she-said, in total isolation – plus an adversarial legal system, are mismatched to the task of adjudicating the facts about a family, let alone a disintegrating family.
Privacy and legal adversary are in my view, major obstacles to determining the best interests of the child in family breakdown. A lot has been done by way of mediation and counselling, but the potential for cover-up via privacy remains. While individual adults have important legal rights that must be protected, I am not convinced that
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Katie June 7, 2012
(cont) this applies where children are involved.
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Wendy June 8, 2012
Men who were exposed to domestic violence as children often grow up to treat their own the same way. Thankfully the law has begun to define domestic violence so these men can be shown that the way things were done in their childhood is not acceptable. Wives and children no longer need to be smacked around to make them behave. If they refuse to change they will go to jail.
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Verity June 10, 2012
Please stop making this an issue between male and female. Family violence is not on in any form! Men lie and women lie it is as simple as that. Domestic violence even happens in same sex relationships, it is not just committed against women. Teach everyone to be respectful to their family and partners. Being verbally aggressive and abusive to anyone, male or female is not on either. Both sexes are capable of perpetuating domestic and family violence. However, I do agree that one may be more prevalent toward the other. It is a bit like road safety campaigns, encourage safe driving by all road users and we will see the benefits.
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Melissa June 11, 2012
There’s a huge elephant in ths room that seems to be neglected by the law: what about domestoc violence directed AT children? What ptotections are offered to child victims of violence in the home? Both my parents were cruel, quite crazed monsters who resolved their frustrations and personal need for supremecy by bashing tehir most vulnerable child, socially isolating, emotioanlly badgering etc. Why is there still no legal recourse for these victims?
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Caroline June 16, 2012
Unfortunately, it is not just the adults that are involved in domestic violence.
At one point, I had to stop my mother from closing the door as she went into a bedroom – she was about to kill herself after my father told her to – after years of intermittent domestic abuse from my father. I doubt that he told her at any point of their relationship of the full extent of his criminal background – he certainly did not tell his children.
Regrettably, both my sister and I advised the police when they came that we wanted to stay with him. I was too afraid to say anything else. This was the beginning of more years of intermittent physical and emotional abuse at the hands of my father.
His cigarettes, gambling, and womanising was more important than his two children. He repeatedly advised me that Social Security (as it was called then) gave him money for his cigarettes, and his living expenses, which left less than $30 per fortnight for two children to live on.
I made numerous attempts to contact the Police and advise what was going on – it was met will more bashings by him.
Being called a, “dog,” “stupid,” “worthless,” and when I commenced working, I once had the back of my head rammed into a brick wall over $35.00 that I did not want him to have. Incidentally, his sister – my aunt, did not understand why I talked about him in a negative manner – after the $4,000 that my mother handed over to him for her funeral expenses were not used on her funeral. That money was never explained, and why her (my mother’s) furnishings disappeared, and why he relied upon a state government to pay for her cremation – she advised me that she wanted a burial. I am still at a loss as to why he brought one of his mistresses to my mother’s funeral service, and sat in the front row.
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Lilly June 23, 2012
Another unfortunate part is that adult victims of Family Violence often think that they can protect the children from it. Either not understanding the damage caused emotionally and mentally, or in many cases simply doing the best they can for the children in a situation where they genuinely can’t see a way out. And the abuser often denies (sometimes truly believing it) that they ever hurt their children …because they didn’t hit them. (Just tormented the child/children’s other parent) Of course I am using an example where the child/children are not victims of *physical* violence. As Melissa pointed out, there are cases in which both parents are abusive towards the children – hopefully as awareness grows, more people will be responsible enough to report suspected, as well as blatant, abuse.
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Rhoda September 27, 2012
I think Catherine has hit the nail on the head here. Assault is assault whether it’s in the home or the street, whether it’s directed towards family in the home or a stranger in the street.
Applying the adjective ‘domestic’ lends the perpetrator an excuse when there is none.
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frances November 18, 2012
Sorry, last week in the Federal Magistrates Court in Melbourne resulted in ‘same old, same old’, laws behind the federal magistrate’s decisions on the final orders for young children of a divorced couple. Emotional violence, financial violence, any payments towards health and education were completely dismissed. I hope that this magistrate is called to account by his employers and that Victorian families are fee of him in the near future.
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tracey May 20, 2013
Who the hell do you think you are sally ,I have been through the court system twice now &my ex has a history of domestic violence 48 documented police reports and welfare intervention &that only when I lived with the monster ,what are you going to say that all women like me are liars when the paper trail speaks for its self ,not only has my ex assaulted me but also a teacher &me in front of our son s peers and two other class rooms ,plus the school went on lock down due his behaviour .our son has mild autism so he hasn’t got the defence system that I and anyone else has ;they keep all their emotions bottled up inside .the family courts are a joke I share custody of our son with this monster due to the fact that our son hasn’t shown his fear of how frightened he is of his father &that there isnt any physical harm done to our son by his father but I and many know that he is doing it mentally ,but since the share care came in its the decent parents who aren’t getting a fair go in the courts it the liars &perpetrators that are not fit enough to be around any ones children ..f,,,,ck the law i lost my respect for them all years ago ‘I have no police history &even have a police clearance for working in aged care &I left this monster nearly 7years ago &have had further dvos done several by me and the domestic violence service here &,I have also had dvo breaches not even reaching the courts due to police taking it into their own hands &dropping them when it s the law that any dvo breech goes to a magistrate and they make the yay or nay on weather it is a breach not the police ‘I already had one reinstated after putting a formal complaint into Brisbane in 2011 &this I never found out untll last year at the 2nd family court hearing ,many &i mean many people in my community have said my ex is being looked after by someone here with in the Toowoomba police .no one gets off with half of what that man has done ,he got off with assaulting me at our sons school and only got a $750 dollar fine for assult of teacher ,joke joke I am now going back to a lawyer yet again as I am not getting my son ,my ex cant hurt me directly anymore I fight back legally but he uses a innocent child as a means of domestic violence to get at me &I swear I will run this monster through the courts this time I loath parents using children to fight their battles only cowards do that any way..
