01/10/2024

Landmark domestic violence reforms aimed at better protecting survivors come into effect today.

The new laws will mean that any defendant granted bail on a charge of breaching a domestic violence-related intervention order by either threatening or committing a violent act would be subject to mandatory home detention and electronic monitoring.

Defendants would only be allowed to leave home for specific reasons such as travelling to work, with real time alerts provided in instances where bail conditions are breached.

The Government has also passed legislation to provide access to 15 days paid domestic, family and sexual violence (DFSV) leave for those employed pursuant to the state industrial relations system as well as legislation to make the experience of domestic violence a ground of discrimination in the Equal Opportunity Act.

Legislation to improve domestic violence strangulation laws and stalking laws have also been introduced to State Parliament, along with a bill to criminalise coercive control.

Additionally, the Government has funded and established new DFSV prevention and recovery hubs, implemented an awareness campaign about coercive control, funded an education program being rolled out in sporting clubs to help prevent DFSV and undertaken work with the finance and real estate sectors to economically empower women experiencing DFSV.

The Government has also established a Royal Commission into Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence, led by Commissioner Natasha Stott Despoja AO.