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Family lawyer responds to ‘landmark’ step forward on DV matters
A Gold Coast family law specialist has responded to a new law put in place for nationwide protection of domestic violence victims.
Emma Musgrave
Pullos Lawyers’ Cassandra Pullos has commended the “new layer of protection” put in place which sees all domestic violence orders issued anywhere in Australia to be automatically recognised and enforced nationwide under a new National Domestic Violence Order Scheme (NDVOS).
The previous law meant that DVOs issued in Queensland and elsewhere were not automatically recognised in other states or territories, meaning that the victim wasn’t protected if they decided to cross the border where their DVO was issued.
“The Council of Australian Governments in late 2015 agreed each jurisdiction should introduce model laws to automatically enforce domestic violence court orders across state and territory borders,” Ms Pullos said.
“However, until recently the scheme was not fully co-ordinated nationwide.”
Under the new law, domestic violence victims will still be covered if they cross state or territory borders, resulting in much greater protection.
Ms Pullos said the new law means DV perpetrators will be held accountable for breaches of domestic violence orders or apprehended violence orders (AVOs).
“It’s about making DV offenders fully accountable for their behaviour,” Ms Pullos said.
“Existing state and territory laws to protect victims and affected family members from domestic violence have not changed. Local police will still enforce the conditions regardless of where the DVO was issued.
“However prior to 25 November 2017, DVOs applied only in the state or territory where they were issued. Now they automatically apply everywhere.”
Emma Musgrave
Emma Musgrave (née Ryan) is the managing editor, professional services at Momentum Media.
Emma has worked for Momentum Media since 2015, including five years spent as the editor of the company's legal brand - Lawyers Weekly. Throughout her time at Momentum, she has been responsible for breaking some of the biggest stories in corporate Australia. In addition, she has produced exclusive multimedia and event content related to the company's respective brands and audiences.
Prior to joining Momentum Media, Emma worked in breakfast radio, delivering news to the Central West region of NSW, before taking on a radio journalist role at Southern Cross Austereo, based in Townsville, North Queensland.
She holds a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) degree from Charles Sturt University.
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