Media release – Kristie Johnston, independent MHR for Clark, 27 November 2024

Family Violence Reforms Central To MPs First Bill

Two very important reforms for family violence survivors are central to my first Bill in Parliament, which unanimously passed the Lower House today.

My Family Violence Amendment Bill 2024 fixes two problems family violence survivors and experts say will help prevent further significant harms.

They are about extending family violence orders (FVO) and the awarding of court costs.

My Bill will make it easier for victim survivors to extend an FVO.

And it will allow court costs to be awarded against people who game the FVO process to further threaten, coerce, or otherwise harm a victim survivor.

The Family Violence Act needs much more work but these two changes will bring important protections as soon as it’s passed by Parliament.

It’s a source of great satisfaction that my first Bill in Parliament helps victim survivors. I want to recognise the victim survivors – predominantly women – whose experiences have informed this Bill.

  • Our Watch statistics to remind us of the scale of this issue.
    • 2 in 5 women have experienced violence since the age of 15
    • On average, one woman is killed every 9 nine days by a current or former partner
    • Research shows that around 1 in 4 men in Australia aged 18 to 45 say they have used physical and/or sexual violence against an intimate partner

https://www.ourwatch.org.au/quick-facts#key-statistics-on-violence-against-women