Page 2285 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 5 August 2015
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strategies aimed at preventing this violence, we need to ensure our efforts are integrated and joined up. The amendments I am moving to the motion today have the effect that the Assembly calls on the government to give consideration to the extension of the Family Violence Court to first of all include its responsibilities in the area of civil domestic violence orders as well as to give consideration to a full-time dedicated magistrate for domestic and family violence matters as part of the government’s broader legislative reform program.
My amendments deal with two things: firstly, they recognise there is potentially value in having the Family Violence Court deal with all applications for domestic violence orders or protection orders, which is not the case at the moment; secondly, consideration should be given to the issue of whether the Family Violence Court should be headed up by a full-time dedicated Family Violence Court magistrate.
The ACT has an established Family Violence Court which is already able to deal with the domestic family violence offences. It is a specialised court recognised in legislation and it recognises the nature of domestic and family violence and the particular needs of domestic and family violence victims. Part of this includes recognition of the social harm domestic and family violence causes and the context in which it occurs.
With the current arrangements, the Chief Magistrate is responsible for managing the business of the Magistrates Court generally and the business of the already established Family Violence Court. We have a magistrate appointed to the management of this court, who is currently Magistrate Fryar, but obviously she also has other duties as a magistrate more broadly across the Magistrates Court. There is already a dedicated list each week of family violence cases. Each week the Family Violence Court as a specialised court is able to deal with mentions, case management, applications made during criminal matters and sentences on pleas of guilty.
The Family Violence Court, as I have said, is usually presided over by the same magistrate, who is currently Magistrate Fryar. But all magistrates are across the issues that occur in family violence as it is a sad reality that family violence is part of the day-to-day core business of the Magistrates Court. There is potentially value in the benefits of a specialised Family Violence Court magistrate. I believe these matters should be given further consideration and that there should be discussion with the Magistrates Court about those.
The government recognises that increasing specialisation can bring benefits, but it also may bring limits in terms of the flexibility and perspective of the court when dealing with matters that may not immediately be identifiable as domestic violence. My amendments recognise that this is the first step in a conversation about the benefits and the potential cons around a specialised magistrate. It is important that in bringing this discussion forward we also bring the courts with us on this conversation.
In presenting the Court’s Legislation Amendment Bill 2010 I stressed that legislating for a specialised Family Violence Court acknowledges the specialisation and inspiration of the Family Violence Court and recognises the complexities, vulnerabilities and special interests and protection of individual victims and the community as a whole. This statement remains true today.
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