The Justice Legislation Amendment (Family Violence, Stalking and Other Matters) Bill, also known as the Women’s Safety Package, recently passed in Victoria. The Bill reflects the voices of victim-survivors and the expertise of the community legal sector, including Youthlaw.
Positive family violence reforms for young Victorians
Youthlaw welcomes many aspects of the Bill which reflects the Victorian Government’s commitment to improving safety for women and children experiencing family violence. In particular, we welcome the following changes:
- Preventing young people from ageing out of protection when they turn 18 and supporting continuity of safety. Youthlaw Board member and lived-experience advocate, Conor Pall, has long called for young people not to age out of protection when they turn 18. This reform is a testament to Conor’s advocacy, alongside other lived experience advocates.
- Increasing the minimum age of Family Violence Intervention Order respondents from 10 to 12 years of age.
- Clarifying that before making a Family Violence Intervention Order against a child, the Children’s Court may consider the child’s ability to understand and comply with it.
Minimum age for intervention orders should be at least 14 years
Youthlaw will continue to advocate for the minimum age an intervention order can be made against a child to be increased to 14 years old. Our frontline practice experience shows us that:
- Current laws risk criminalising 12 and 13 year old children, most of whom are victim-survivors of family violence themselves.
- Adult legal frameworks are ineffective for children. Therapeutic early intervention and wraparound social supports are more likely to achieve lasting change than blunt legal responses such as intervention orders.
- Police-initiated intervention order applications can prevent families seeking help. We’ve heard from parents who fear calling emergency services for help, worried that police attendance will result in intervention orders and criminalisation.
Quotes from Conor Pall
Conor Pall (he/him), Youthlaw Board member and family violence lived experience advocate, said:
“Family violence doesn’t just disappear when we turn 18. But for too many years, the law treated it as if it did.”
“We often talk about turning 18 like it’s all about what you gain: voting, signing your own lease, your own Medicare card, making big decisions without your parents. But for some young people in Victoria, turning 18 was about what you lost. You lost the Family Violence Intervention Order that was keeping you safe.”
“This change is for the young people who turned 18 and watched their protection disappear, and for those who never got the chance to have their story heard. The safety and wellbeing of children must be central to every reform, every day.”
About Youthlaw
Youthlaw is Victoria’s statewide specialist community legal centre for children and young people under 25.
Media contact: Casey Dean (she/her), Youthlaw Media & Communications Lead on 0494 614 506 or [email protected]