Recent changes to the law regarding intervention orders in Victoria have resulted in an increase in the categories of affected persons that may be able to apply for protection from family violence or stalking, and the grounds upon which such protection may be sought.
Intervention orders may be granted by the Courts pursuant to either the Family Violence Protection Act 2008 or the Stalking Intervention Orders Act 2009, depending on the relationship of the affected person to the other person.
Broadly, an affected person may apply for an intervention order in relation to physical or psychological harm, threats or from behavior that causes fear or apprehension about a person’s own safety. Actual harm does not need to have occurred.
The new Acts specifies further, the types of behavior that may constitute family violence or stalking. The concept of family violence under the new Act has been extended to include conduct that is economically abusive, coercive, domineering or causes a child to hear, witness or be exposed to the effects of harm endured by another. Here, behavior that may be construed as economically abusive includes the exertion of control or denying control of financial matters or unrealistic expectations of money management resulting in a disproportionate power imbalance leading to fear, coercion, manipulation or isolation.
The new Act also now provides protection to those who may be considered as being in a family-like relationship or is an associate of a family member. This may include carers, friends and relatives of affected parties.
The concept of stalking is equally broad. It refers to a pattern of intentional behavior or string of incidences that causes harm or fear in an affected person. Intervention Orders granted on this basis may be tailored to suit the situational needs of the affected person and the other person, for example, to accommodate living arrangements if both parties live within close vicinity of each other, or employment where the affected person and the other party are employed at the same workplace.
In determining an application for an Intervention Order, the Court will have regard to the civil standard of proof. This effectively means that a decision as to whether an Intervention Order should be granted will be determined in accordance with the balance of probabilities, or rather, the version of events that is more probable having regard to all circumstances of the case and any supporting evidence.
5 types of evidence that may help support an application for an Intervention Order: