The Victorian Government has introduced a package of justice reforms aimed at strengthening protections for people experiencing family violence, including making coercive control a standalone criminal offence and adding family violence victim-survivors as a protected category under the state’s anti-discrimination laws.
The reforms, introduced to Parliament on Wednesday, would amend the Equal Opportunity Act so that people who are experiencing, or have experienced, family violence cannot be discriminated against because of that experience. The proposed change would make it unlawful to deny someone a promotion, rental accommodation or other opportunities on that basis.
The legislation also includes changes to court processes and intervention orders, including preventing offenders from relying on “good character” references in sentencing for serious offences, strengthening Family Violence Intervention Orders, requiring courts to consider victim-survivors’ views before extending an intervention order, expanding Personal Safety Intervention Orders to recognise grooming, and broadening relief and exemptions for victim-survivors affected by fines linked to abuse.
The government will also seek to amend the Open Courts Act to restrict the use of suppression orders in cases involving convicted rapists. It said the changes are intended to prevent suppression orders from being used to shield convicted offenders from public identification when the orders are not required to protect victim-survivors.
Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny said an expert advisory group would be established to guide the implementation of the coercive control offence and provide advice on improving access to the justice system for victim-survivors.
The Bill will now proceed through Parliament, where the proposed reforms will be debated before any changes become law.
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