Page 990 - Week 04 - Thursday, 18 June 1992
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PROTECTION ORDERS (RECIPROCAL ARRANGEMENTS) BILL 1992
MR CONNOLLY (Attorney-General, Minister for Housing and Community Services and Minister for Urban Services) (10.54): Madam Speaker, I present the Protection Orders (Reciprocal Arrangements) Bill 1992.
Title read by Clerk.
MR CONNOLLY: Madam Speaker, I move:
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
The current state of the law is that domestic violence protection orders may be enforced only within the jurisdiction in which they have been made. This means that ACT orders cannot be enforced in New South Wales or any other State. It also means that a person moving to the ACT from another State or Territory, fleeing domestic violence, who took out an order in that other State or Territory, cannot have that order enforced in the ACT.
The problem caused by the lack of portability of protection orders across jurisdictions was addressed at the meeting of the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General held in February 1991. That meeting resolved to address the issue of portability and decided that certain features should be incorporated into the portability scheme, as it became known. These were: Firstly, that victims who have obtained a protection order from their original State or Territory of residence should be able to retain the protection of that order in a new State or Territory regardless of inconsistencies as to the range of people protected under different jurisdictions; secondly, that the duration of the order in the new State or Territory should be as specified by the original State or Territory; and, finally, that penalties for breaches should be enforced as for the receiving State or Territory and not the original State or Territory. Subsequent meetings of this committee have monitored the progress of the proposal for portability. So far, a discussion paper has been issued by Queensland, draft Bills have been produced in both Tasmania and South Australia, and the Victorian Government is preparing similar legislation although a Bill has not yet been made available.
Madam Speaker, the need to ensure urgent implementation of the portability scheme has been vigorously pursued by the ACT. At the meeting of Premiers and Chief Ministers held in Adelaide in November 1991 the Chief Minister emphasised the need to take immediate action in this matter as an important step in containing levels of domestic violence in the community. Ms Follett succeeded in securing an agreement of all those present at the meeting that restraining orders issued in one jurisdiction should be recognised in all other jurisdictions, to ensure better protection for victims of domestic violence and to gain real effectiveness in administration. In view of the prominent role the ACT has played in progressing this issue and moving it at a far faster pace than is normal in national uniformity schemes - we often take years to get uniform agreement - I believe that it is most important that we set an example for others to follow by enacting the legislation that is before us today as swiftly as we can.
The Bill will enable an interstate protection order to gain enforceability in the ACT through registration in the Magistrates Court. A copy of the registered order and the application for registration will be forwarded by the registrar to the Commissioner of Police. The registrar also has a duty to notify the interstate court when an order is registered. A breach of an interstate protection order will
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