1. Jac Taylor
Women’s Safety Contact Officer
Southern Adelaide Domestic Violence Service

2. Intervention Order Legislation
 Women’s Domestic Violence Services were strong
advocates to reform the legislation
 New legislation is a significant improvement on previous
Domestic Violence Act 1994
 In particular, we welcome the State Government’s
recognition in law that perpetrators of violence should be
held accountable for their use of violence:
 Right for women and children to stay in their own home
 Requirement for defendant to attend an intervention program
 Requirement for defendant to demonstrate the protected
person(s) no longer requires legal protection (and must wait
at least 12 months)
 Women can no longer be charged with aid and abet if they are
the only protected person on the order (but still can if bail
conditions in place)

3. Better protection for women/children
 Increased police powers enabling quicker responses:
 Issuance of an interim intervention order if defendant is
present or in custody
 Order that defendant vacates property immediately
 Require defendant to remain in a particular place to allow
order to be prepared and served, and detain him if they have
grounds that he will not stay as directed (maximum of 2
hours, can be extended by court)
 Following service of an order, he can be detained for up to 6
hours if they have grounds to believe he will commission an
act of abuse (court can extend to 24 hours)
 Power to search for weapons required to be surrendered
under the terms of the order, including entering premises to
take possession of these, using reasonable force

4. Expansion of definition of abuse
 The definition of abuse has been expanded to include
physical injury, psychological/emotional
harm, unreasonable and non-consensual denial of
financial, social or personal autonomy, and property
damage
 However, DV services are noticing that for women who
are experiencing psychological/economic abuse, the
police may not be able to support their application for
an intervention order
 This means women in this situation have to apply
directly to the courts themselves and pay costs (may
need a lawyer to represent them and no legal aid
available)

5. Staying home
 Leading cause of homelessness for women and
children is domestic violence
 Therefore, the new legislation is an important step in
addressing this
 Defendant can be prohibited from the home
regardless of his legal entitlement in the property
 At confirmation of the order, the Magistrate can issue
a Tenancy Order transferring the lease solely into the
woman’s name (subject to her being able to meet the
tenancy obligations)
 However, women being supported by DV Services do
not seem to be accessing these

6. Staying Home (cont)
 Locks can be changed and security upgraded
 Staying Home, Staying Safe Program through Victim
Support Service
 If staying in the home is not a safe option, an order can
be made to require the return of her property
 It may not be safe to remain in the home despite an
Intervention Order and security upgrade
 She may not be able to afford to stay in the home once
he has been removed (she is then required to pay
rent/mortgage in full)

7. Better protection for children
 Intent of legislation to provide better protection to children who
are exposed to domestic violence
 Children can be included as protected persons – where this
happens and the order states no contact, the defendant cannot
see the children unless there are family law orders in place
allowing this
 This means if a child is taken by a defendant, police can act to
retrieve the child (this is a much quicker response than the
mother having to seek a recovery order in the family law courts)
 However, DV Services are noticing that it can be very difficult for
women to have their children included as judicial responses
seem to vary considerably
 Too often, women are advised that this legislation is not
designed to address children’s issues, and referred to the family
law courts

8. Intervention Orders Response Model
 Aim: to enhance the safety of women and children
 For male defendants
 Abuse Prevention Program (APP) – run by Courts
Administration Authority (CAA) – for assessment and
case management
 Domestic Violence Perpetrator Program (DVPP) – 26
week group for men to address their use of violence, run
by Department of Correctional Services
 For female protected persons
 Women’s Safety Contact Program (WSCP) – run by
Women’s Domestic Violence Services – support for
female (former) partners of men on DVPP

9. Abuse Prevention Program
 As a term of the order, the defendant can be required
to make contact with the Intervention Program
Manager (at CAA) to make an appointment for an
assessment, and if deemed eligible, participate in the
Abuse Prevention Program
 Three stages to this:
 Stage 1 – Eligibility Assessment (conducted by CAA) –
defendant must make contact within 2 days
 Stage 2 – Referral to the DVPP (group behaviour change
program)
 Stage 3 – Monitoring and reporting to court on
compliance (CAA)

10. Domestic Violence Perpetrator Program
 26 week group program based on Moral Reconation Therapy
 Program content only available to those who have done the
accredited training
 Based on a work book and homework required
 Participants need to possess literacy skills
 Intake is continuous, participants can join at any time subject to
a place being available
 Groups currently run in city, Noarlunga and Elizabeth (evening
groups in city)
 Participants must attend each week:
 Miss three consecutive sessions – reported to CAA and may be
breached (and terminated from program)
 Miss four sessions overall – reported to CAA and may be breached
(and terminated from program)
 Courts can request progress reports
 Penalty $220 fine (expiation notice)

11. Women’s Safety Contact Program
 Assertive outreach program for female (former) partners of
male participants of DVPP
 Once defendant is deemed eligible by CAA and referred to
DVPP, Department of Correctional Services (DCS) forward
Information Exchange to relevant Women’s Domestic
Violence Service in metropolitan area
 At point of assessment, defendant is asked for his (former)
partner’s contact details and advised she will be contacted
and offered support
 Women’s Safety Contact Officers (WSCOs) are located in
each of the four metropolitan DV services
 WSCO contacts woman and offers support – woman’s
engagement is voluntary
 Focus is on risk and safety of women/children and relies on
active engagement between DVPP facilitators and WSCOs

12. Program for Aboriginal Men
 Konar Winmil Yunti provide a 24 week group for
Aboriginal men to address their use of violence as an
alternative
 Based in the city and does not cover outer
metropolitan area
 Referrals to this program are via community
 A Women’s Safety Contact Officer – ATSI is located at
Ninko Kurtangga Patpangga to provide support to
female (former) partners of these men

13. Improved court processes
 Recognition of trauma associated with court processes:
 May be able to give evidence by CCTV
 However, anecdotally, this is not widely used (screens offered
instead)
 If defendant is self-representing, he can not directly
cross examine woman
 For women – court processes often result in secondary
traumatisation
 While these changes are welcome, it can never be
underestimated just how stressful, frightening and
disempowering these processes can be

14. Women’s perspectives:
 For some women, the new legislation is working well
 However, women have also voiced their concerns:
 Have felt very uncertain about the process (especially where he
contests the order)
 Have felt very fearful about how the defendant will react on service
of the order
 Have felt very fearful about the matter proceeding to trial, and
requiring them to give evidence
 Have felt very fearful that the children will not be included or will
be removed from the order
 Have felt pressured to apply for family law orders
 Have received conflicting information (eg their lawyer compared to
police/prosecutor/Magistrates)
 Have not understood that terms the order could have included (eg
prohibiting him from the family home, including children on order)
 Have not understood the language used (legalistic terms)

15. Supporting women
 To make an application for an Intervention Order, a woman must
make a statement to police and this can take hours
 For a court application, she is required to attend the hearing –
Family Violence Investigation Section (FVIS) of SAPOL also
attend these to offer support (in metro area)
 Service of order can heighten her level of risk, therefore safety
planning is essential
 Important that all breaches are reported – this again is time
consuming as she needs to attend police station
 Woman will receive copies of order if granted and very important
she provides copies of these to relevant places (eg children’s
school/child care)
 When order is granted, defendant is given a response date to
present to court – woman does not need to attend this hearing
 She can find out what is happening by contacting Magistrates
Court Call Centre on 8204 2444 or ring her local FVIS

16. Additional concerns
 Inconsistency in responses – police and courts
 Lack of community awareness about the new legislation (in particular
what is possible)
 Women not aware of what they can seek in an order (eg his removal
from the home, tenancy orders, including children on orders,
retrieving personal property)
 Does the system have the capacity to properly respond to the increased
number of intervention orders?
 Concerns about negotiations between prosecution and
defendant/defendant’s lawyer – to reach agreement, is too much being
negotiated away?
 Victim’s voice in this process – how is she heard? Frequently hear from
women that they don’t know what is happening in criminal justice
system
 In determining terms of the IO, need to listen to women’s wishes –
ensure orders are victim focused
 Women may not call police for fear of action being taken against their
wishes
 Can take significant length of time from application through to
confirmation and this causes considerable stress to women, wanting to
know that the order is final.

17. Family Safety Framework (FSF)
 Women’s Domestic Violence Services participate in
this framework and sit on the Family Safety Meetings
(FSM) in each LSA where they are established
 Women’s DV Services are strong advocates for the
framework – research indicates that information
sharing and collaborative intervention lowers risk
 Key role – to advocate on behalf of the
woman/children (as she is not present)
 In designing the Intervention Order Response
Model, it was expected that there would be a strong
overlap between this and the Family Safety Framework
(but in reality numbers of families referred to both
have been lower than expected)

18. Family Safety Framework (cont)
 WSCO role to act as Women’s Domestic Violence
Service Representative on Family Safety Meetings in
their LSA
 Focus on risk and safety
 One contact point for agencies sharing information
 Assertive outreach to women on WSCP as well as women
on FSF
 Opportunity to connect with women prior to next FSM
to act on reducing risk more quickly
 FSM action can be to request prosecution seek he is
referred to APP

19. Family Safety Framework - Strengths
 Very important initiative that provides a structure for
agencies to get together to share information, assess
risk and formulate action plans to reduce risk
 Allows various agencies to be alert to risk, and to act
accordingly
 Plans can include: police and Corrections taking
action in relation to perpetrator; schools being
notified so safety plans can be put in place for
children; women being kept informed of what is
happening in relation to perpetrator; women being
offered support and accommodation; women’s homes
receiving security upgrades, etc
 Very significant role in preventing further violence

20. Family Safety Framework - strengths
 For families at high and imminent risk, it provides
Women's DV services (usually the service supporting
these families) with a clear protocol and pathway to
accessing information and intervention to reduce risk
 As a result of this framework and agencies coming
together fortnightly, relationships and networks have
developed that enable DV Services to access
information/action quickly on behalf of the
women/children they are supporting
 Educates those not working in DV Services about the
dynamics and impacts of domestic violence
 Holds agencies to account

21. Family Safety Framework - challenges
 One of its intents is to hold perpetrators more
accountable but as it is limited in how it can
inform/influence judicial decision making, in reality
this can be difficult to achieve
 Focus can be more on the victim than the perpetrator
as she is more likely to cooperate with any actions
 Women and children fleeing domestic violence often
have no choice but to move from one form of
emergency accommodation to another, meaning
referrals can be transferred from one LSA to another,
causing delays in action being taken

22. Conclusion
 Women’s Domestic Violence Services uphold the
principle that the perpetrator is fully responsible for
his use of violence and should be held accountable
 We advocate that domestic violence is everybody’s
concern and we must all strive for its elimination
 As such, we strongly support both the intervention
order legislation and family safety framework but also
advocate that more needs to be done to uphold every
woman and child’s human right to safety