Domestic violence is when one person behaves in a way that controls or dominates another person and causes fear for their safety and wellbeing. It happens in intimate, family or informal care relationships.

It can take many forms:

• physical or sexual abuse—punching, hitting, choking, or threatening to punch or hit, forcing a person to participate in sexual acts, damaging someone’s property or threatening to damage property, including hurting or threatening to hurt pets
• emotional or psychological abuse—stalking, repeated text messaging, making insulting comments, calling someone names, blackmailing or extorting, preventing contact with family and/or friends, controlling someone’s appearance, putting them down, threatening to expose their sexual orientation
• economic abuse—denying, withholding, controlling or misusing money or property, or threatening to do so
  threatening behaviour—saying things or acting in a way to make someone feel afraid, threatening to commit suicide or self-harm, stalking
• coercive behaviour—forcing, intimidating or manipulating a person to do things they don’t want to do, such as sign a contract (e.g. for a loan) or a legal document giving another person power over their affairs (e.g. power of attorney).

Domestic violence extends to children seeing violence, like their parent being hurt, being called names, things being broken or police arriving.

There are many Government and community support services to help you if you’re in a domestic violence relationship. Most of them provide free services.

Two immediate services are listed below:

Womensline

DVConnect’s Womensline is Queensland’s only 24 hour, 7 days a week crisis response telephone helpline. It is a service for Queenslanders who want to escape domestic and family violence.

The number one goal of Womensline is to respond to immediate safety needs. Womensline offers free, specialist crisis counselling, as well as information, referrals and support to people living with domestic and family violence. Each day our counsellors support Queenslanders who fear violent partners, ex-partners, or family members. They need a safe place for themselves, their children, and in a lot of cases, their pets.

In 2017/2018 financial year, Womensline received 98,174 phone calls and referrals.

Mensline

DVConnect’s Mensline is a free, confidential telephone crisis counselling, referral and support service for men living in Queensland. This service is available 9am until midnight, 7 days a week. In the last financial year, DVConnect’s Mensline received almost 15,000 phone calls and referrals.

DVConnect’s Mensline offers counselling, referral and support for both:

• Men who are experiencing domestic and family violence
• Men who are using violence in their relationships

When making an application for a domestic violence order, one can apply to have children included on the protection order if they have been exposed to domestic violence. Exposure to domestic violence includes hearing, seeing, or otherwise experiencing domestic violence.

This includes situations where a child helps a family member who has been injured as a result of domestic violence or where a child sees damaged property in their home as a result of domestic violence. An unborn child can also be deemed to have been exposed to domestic violence.

The Magistrate will consider the request to include children on the domestic violence protection order and will do so if the court deems it necessary and desirable to protect the children from domestic violence.

If someone has lodged an application for a domestic violence order (DVO) against you, you will be called ‘the respondent’ on the application and in the courtroom.

A police officer will give you a copy of the application. It’s important that you read the application carefully. The application will include the allegations made against you by the aggrieved (person who will be protected by the order) and a date and time that you need to go to court.

You can appear in court by yourself or with your lawyer. If you want representation but can’t afford a lawyer, contact Legal Aid Queensland or your local courthouse.

If you have received an application and don’t go to court when you’re required to, the court can make a final protection order or temporary protection order (two types of DVOs) against you in your absence.

A magistrate may also issue a warrant for police to take you into custody and bring you to court.

It is a criminal offence to breach a Domestic Violence Order.

A defendant who breaches a Domestic Violence or Protection Order in Queensland is liable to a maximum of three years imprisonment or a fine up to 120 penalty units ($14,136).

If you have previously been convicted of a domestic violence offence, this penalty is increased to five years imprisonment or a fine up to 240 penalty units ($28, 272).

Alternatively, a Court may order a term of probation, requiring that a defendant participate in domestic violence courses or any other intervention deemed necessary by the Probation and Parole office.

A breach of a Domestic Violence Order may also result in a criminal record.

A court can also make an intervention order when it is making or varying a domestic violence order.

An intervention order requires the respondent to attend an approved intervention program and/or counselling to address the respondent’s violent behaviour. This order can only be made with the respondent’s consent. The court can only make an intervention order if it is satisfied there is an appropriate program or counselling available at a reasonably convenient location to the respondent.

The Court will consider that the Respondent has breached an Order of the Court and will be unlikely to vary the Domestic Violence Order in a way that is favourable to the Respondent. It is not a criminal offence to breach an intervention order, however, it is noted on the Court file and can be used against the Respondent in future proceedings.

If you’re experiencing domestic violence, you can apply for a domestic violence order (DVO). The DVO sets out conditions that must be obeyed by the person who has committed the violence (‘the respondent’). You can complete the relevant application form online or download and print the form to complete it by hand.

When completing the form, answer all the questions on the form and include as much information as possible, including what domestic violence has happened or been threatened, and when and where it occurred.

Try to provide as much detail as you can and, when describing what the respondent has said to you, try to use their words as you remember them. You can attach extra pages to your application.

There is no cost to apply for a domestic violence order.