Sections 53 and 74 of the Family Violence Protection Act 2008 provide that a court must be satisfied on the balance of probabilities that an interim or final family violence protection orders is justified.The police frequently apply for these orders to protect an affected family member. Because police tend to be involved in the more …
Continue reading Standard of proof for family violence orders
Whatever the general rule of puttage might be (see The recent history of Browne v Dunn, above), a specific prohibition on the accused giving (or adducing) evidence now exists at s 358 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2009. Division 4 of Part 8.2 of the Act prohibits an unrepresented accused from personally cross-examining a protected …
It's no news flash to mention the increased State (and national) emphasis on family violence.But it seems this focus is resulting in changes that the legal system was traditionally reluctant to embark on.Victims as offendersYou might remember a few years ago the notorious case of R v Osland (1998) 197 CLR 316. Heather Osland and …
The statutory scheme for dealing with complaints of family violence is set out in the Family Violence Protection Act 2008. Case law concerning the operation of this new Act is still rare. Some magistrates (who are tasked with applying the Act by considering applications for intervention orders) express disquiet over the way the system operates. …
Continue reading Interim intervention orders and natural justice
The Bill to amend legislation before the commencement of the Evidence Act 2008 and Criminal Procedure Act 2009 was before the Parliamentary Assembly last Thursday (thanks for the tip, Jeremy).It's called the Criminal Procedure Amendment (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2009. The Explanatory Memorandum for it can be found here.At 256 pages, the proposed bill …