The Northern Territory government has released a draft new domestic and violence prevention law for public comment as it seeks to reduce the rate of violence in the NT.
On Thursday the government said the Justice Legislation (Domestic and Family Violence) Bill 2023 "modernises, restructures, and strengthens the Domestic and Family Violence Act 2007 to bring it into line with best practices, and address inconsistencies in the current Act".
"The reforms provide a more consistent and specialised focus on victim safety and offender accountability to help reduce the cycle of violence; and provide better protection for domestic and family violence victims, particularly women and children," the government said in a statement.
Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Eastern Arrente, Arabana and Gurindji man Chansey Paech, said the Territory government is "ensuring the justice response to domestic and family violence improves the safety of victim-survivors and holds people who use violence to account".
"We continue to modernise our legislation to keep it contemporary and ensure it reflects best practice and that's why we're releasing an exposure draft Bill for feedback from people with expertise on domestic and family violence, including those with lived experience."
The Bill includes a definition of coercive control, enabling Courts to consider the concept as part of DVO applications and when considering a breach of a DVO.
Other key features of the Bill include:
- Measures to address the misidentification of parties – requiring the Police to produce Police Certificates for Police DVO applications, and where requested for Court DVO applications, that outline the history of DFV between the parties;
- Greater and stronger protection for victim survivors – including broadening and modernising definitions, more prescriptive arrangements for premises access orders, and extending the default expiration period for DVOs.
- Greater and more consistent offender accountability - including new provisions prohibiting attempts to locate protected persons and requiring offenders to destroy intimate images of the protected person; and
- Improved clarity and scope for Courts and Police powers - including more comprehensive matters to be considered when making a DVO, greater flexibility for making interim DVOs and requiring the conditions of DVOs to be explained to the protected person and the offender.
A study by Monash University made public this week found systematic racism within Australian justice systems was linked to the deaths of 151 Indigenous women deaths, prompting calls for greater accountability of authorities in responding to domestic and family violence.
The Northern Territory government said the draft law was informed by "broad public consultation" on proposed legislative and systems changes undertaken last year, which included services providers, police, courts, and people with lived experience as victim-survivors of domestic and family violence.
The Exposure Draft – Justice Legislation Amendment (Domestic and Family Violence) Bill 2023 is now available online until 22 August 2023.
NT Minister for the Prevention of Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence, Kate Worden, said improving the justice response to domestic and family violence is "a high priority for our Government because we are determined to come to grips with this scourge that negatively impacts our people and our communities".
"This Bill builds on our Government's commitment under the NT Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Reduction Framework to reduce all forms of domestic, family and sexual violence," she said.
