Page 2915 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 15 August 1990
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MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Jensen): Order! Mr Stevenson, you have had your say. Please be seated.
MR DUBY: As I was saying, to raise it as a matter of public importance implies that there has been some lack of action on behalf of the Government. I feel it goes without saying that this Government has certainly complied with the requirements for consultation. I notice that through his interjections Mr Stevenson has been saying, "I keep referring to last year". Having made that point, that is really all I wish to say.
MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: The discussion on the matter of public importance has now concluded.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE (AMENDMENT) BILL (NO. 2) 1990
MR COLLAERY (Attorney-General) (4.21): Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, I present the Domestic Violence (Amendment) Bill (No. 2) 1990.
I move:
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, this Bill has arisen from a review of the operation of the Domestic Violence Act. This review was undertaken by representatives of agencies who are involved in the operation of the ACT, including the Domestic Violence Crisis Service, the courts, the Australian Federal Police, the ACT Legal Aid Office, the Law Society and ACT Administration. The amendments proposed in this Bill are based on the recommendations of this review committee.
The most significant amendment in this Bill is the extension of the categories of persons who will be eligible to apply for a domestic violence protection order. The ACT legislation will now be consistent with that of New South Wales, so that protection will be extended to family and household based relationships. This will include a person who is living, or has ordinarily lived, in the same household as a perpetrator, and a person who is, or has been, a relative of the perpetrator as well as the children of these people. The protection under the Act will therefore extend to people such as parents, grandparents and adult children with mental or physical disabilities.
The Bill also amends the Act to allow a child to apply for a protection order in his or her own right, and for the provision of legal assistance in these cases. Especially where children are in the age range of 16 years to 18 years, there may well be occasions when they wish to have the protection of a domestic violence order. This arises particularly where allegations of child abuse are involved, as in the series of "Louise" articles recently published in the Canberra Times.
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