Foreword

Australia has been tackling gendered violence and reviewing and updating the laws and responses that are intended to keep women and children safe. There have been 1,733female victims of intimate partner homicide in Australia between July 1989 and December 2024, including 35 women who were murdered by their current or former partners in 2024. Despite legislative reforms and other measures, the system we have is failing these women and their children.

This inquiry heard from victim-survivors of family, domestic and sexual violence, and the individuals and organisations who support and advocate for them, about how serious and unacceptable the consequences of inadequate laws and responses can be. The Committee examined barriers to safety and fairness for victim-survivors in the state and territory family violence order (FVO) system and the federal family law system, the important intersections between jurisdictions, and the accessibility of services and supports that victim-survivors need to navigate both systems safely and fairly.

Women leaving abusive relationships must navigate two separate court systems to be protected by FVOs under state and territory law and to resolve parenting or property disputes arising from separation through the family law courts. This dual system can be time consuming, confusing, costly and retraumatising for victim-survivors, and can put them at risk and anchor them to their abusers. For example, once an FVO is obtained, the family law courts may then override the FVO and put victim-survivors in harm’s way by granting perpetrators access to children. Furthermore, the presence of an FVO is no guarantee of safety. Current or historical FVOs were evident in over 40 per cent of 224 cases where a male intimate partner murdered a female intimate partner between 2010 and 2018.

There have already been significant recent reforms to the way that the family law courts manage and respond to family violence and child abuse risk and share information with state and territory courts and agencies, with more reforms planned. The Australian Government provides a range of programs supporting victim-survivors, as well in partnership with the states and territories, including legal and non-legal support in the family law system, assisting victim-survivors through the social security and child support systems, and providing safe and secure housing.

The Australian Government has recently announced its largest ever investment in legal assistance, the $3.9 billion National Access to Justice Partnership. This builds on measures already announced to improve access to critical legal and non-legal support for victim-survivors, including a renewed, five-year Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence National Partnership. This will deliver more than $700 million in new matched investments from the Australian and state and territory governments, including funding to support specialist services for women, and services supporting children to heal and recover from abuse and violence. Funding is also being directed towards men’s behaviour change programs for perpetrators of gendered violence. However, more needs to be done.

The inquiry found that the degree of variation in relevant state and territory laws and police responses to family, domestic and sexual violence across Australia is unreasonable and a barrier to safety and justice for victim-survivors. Australians have a right to expect access to the same protections, regardless of where they live, but this is not currently the case. Variations in the protection of children, the duration of FVOs, the effectiveness of information sharing, the recognition of coercive control and police responses mean different outcomes for victim-survivors depending on where they live — it also makes it difficult to understand how FVOs will work when victim-survivors flee to a different state or territory to escape abuse.

The Committee found that a long-term, systematic approach must be adopted across all jurisdictions to increase safety for women and children as they navigate family separation and to realise the ambition of the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022–2032 to end violence against women and children over the next 10 years. Building an effective, systematic and national approach, as outlined in this report’s 11recommendations, must start with harmonised definitions of family, domestic and sexual violence, best practice and consistent FVO laws and police responses, and enhanced information sharing and risk assessment across jurisdictions, so that all key decision-makers, agencies and services are speaking the same language about risk. A long-term systematic approach to increase safety for women and children will require all jurisdictions and agencies, including courts, police and other services to work together.

Victim-survivors of family, domestic and sexual violence are usually advised to seek FVOs through a state or territory magistrates court, or from police, before attempting to resolve parenting or property matters in the federal family law courts. This is because of the serious risk of escalation in the violent and abusive behaviours of perpetrators during family law proceedings, particularly in cases involving coercive control where a perpetrator’s sense of power and dominance is threatened. The period of elevated risk is extended because family law matters are slow, complex, adversarial and expensive, and perpetrators often manipulate the system as an extension of their control and abuse. Most applications to the family law courts involve multiple family violence and child abuse risk factors.

The Committee has made recommendations that will build on the Australian Government’s significant reforms over the past two years that have made the family law system safer and fairer for victim-survivors of family, domestic and sexual violence, including:

increasing the capacity of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia to identify, respond and expedite high-risk family violence and child abuse matters, including reducing wait times and overall costs for victim-survivors
making court appearances safer
making proceedings more accessible and providing more support to people with low English and/or digital literacy or who are living with disability, to First Nations and culturally and linguistically diverse people, and to Australians who live outside of the major cities
improving the capacity of the family law courts to make orders for the protection of victim-survivors, known as personal protection injunctions, and making these orders more effective
piloting a children’s advocate role to help ensure children are protected and their views are represented safely
eliminating opportunities for systems abuse in both the family law and state and territory FVO systems. Police, the judiciary and legal professionals must have a deep understanding of the nature and dynamics of family, domestic and sexual violence, including coercive control, and how systems can be used to perpetrate further abuse.

Navigating the complex legal system is not something women should be expected to tackle alone. The Committee heard of many community organisations who successfully help victim survivors navigate the many complex aspects of separating from their abusers, including legal, financial and safety aspects as they impact on each individual case. The inquiry found that many of these services are forced to turn away people, who may be in absolute crisis, due to current funding constraints. The National Access to Justice Partnership, commencing July 2025, and other measures, are intended to address these issues to ensure support services are put on a sustainable footing. It was not possible for this inquiry to determine whether the combination of new and existing measures will address funding shortfalls, however it is the Committee’s view that adequate, ongoing and sustainable funding for wrap-around, legal and non-legal services is critical.

Further work to explore a single advocacy support model for victim-survivors is needed. Victim-survivors need someone to walk with them from the moment they decide to reach out for help — to guide them safely through separation, to advocate for them and to connect them with the services they need.

This report would not have been possible without the bravery of many victim-survivors who shared their stories with the Committee, and those who dedicate their lives to preventing and responding to family, domestic and sexual violence, and support victim-survivors to safely navigate separation. We acknowledge your strength and courage, and we thank you for sharing your lived experiences and advocacy.

Ms Susan Templeman MP

Chair