Adult

A person who is 18 years of age or over.^[2]

Affected family member or AFM

The person who is/has been affected by family violence and is the subject of an application for a family violence intervention order.^[3] After an order is in place, the affected family member may be referred to as the ‘protected person’.

Ageing out

A term used to describe a young person losing the protection of a family violence intervention order because they have turned 18.

Appeal

A procedure that allows a party to challenge a decision made by a court.^[4]

Applicant

The person who applies for a family violence intervention order to protect a victim-survivor. The applicant could be the affected family member themselves, the police, or an adult who has legal authority or guardianship of the affected family member or who is applying with their consent.^[5]

Balance of probabilities

The standard of proof required in a civil legal matter, including a family violence intervention order proceeding, to determine which version of events is more likely to have happened. To prove a claim on the balance of probabilities, a party must satisfy the court that the claim they are making is more likely to be true than not.^[6] This is easier to prove than the criminal standard of ‘beyond reasonable doubt.’^[7]

Coercive control

A form of family violence in which a perpetrator uses a pattern of abusive behaviours towards another person over time to establish and maintain power and dominance over them. Behaviours can include monitoring a victim-survivor’s actions, restricting their freedom or independence, and using threats and intimidation.^[8]

Consent order

An order that the court can make if all parties agree to it being made.^[9]

Contested hearing

A hearing where a magistrate decides whether there are grounds to make a family violence intervention order based on the arguments and evidence given by the parties present at court.^[10] This can be contrasted with an ex parte hearing, which goes ahead even when one of the parties is not present at court.^[11]

Child

By law, a person who is under the age of 18 years old.^[12]

Child protection order

An umbrella term for an order made by the Children’s Court under the Child, Youth and Families Act 2005 to ensure a child’s safety and wellbeing.^[13]

Conflict of interest

A lawyer has a duty to act in a client’s best interests. A lawyer cannot represent a client if they have other interests which influence, or might appear to influence, their judgment or how they act for a client. It is a conflict of interest to represent one client against a former client, represent two clients with different interests in the same legal matter, or represent a client where the lawyer’s personal or business interests conflict with their duty to their client.^[14]

Conflicted out

A term used when a lawyer is unable to represent a client due to a conflict of interest.

Duty lawyer

A lawyer who provides free assistance and representation to people who are unrepresented at court on the day. Duty lawyer services are provided by Victoria Legal Aid or approved private practitioners at most Magistrates’ Courts across Victoria.^[15]

Family member

A family member of a victim-survivor includes anyone they have (or have had) a family or intimate personal relationship with, including their partner, ex-partner, children, relatives or anyone they treat (or have treated) as family.^[16]

Family relationship

A relationship between people who are connected by blood or an adoptive relationship, people who live together in a domestic relationship, or people who are in a marriage, domestic partnership or intimate personal relationship.^[17] A family relationship includes ‘family-like’ relationships, and relationships based on First Peoples’ traditions and contemporary social practices.^[18]

Family violence

Behaviour that makes a family member unsafe or feel unsafe. Family violence includes behaviour that makes a family member fear for their safety or the safety of another family member, their property or their pets. Family violence is sometimes called domestic or intimate partner violence.^[19]

Family violence applicant practitioner

Also called an applicant support worker. A person who is based at the Magistrates’ or Children’s Court and provides information about the Court and intervention order process to affected family members aged 16 and over.^[20] Family violence applicant practitioners do not provide legal advice. They can refer affected family members to a range of support programs and agencies.^[21]

Family Violence Report

A risk assessment and risk management tool for frontline police. Also known as a L17 form.

Family violence safety notice (safety notice)

A notice issued by police when they believe a victim-survivor needs immediate protection from family violence.^[22] The safety notice includes conditions that the respondent must follow or they can be arrested. A safety notice lasts up to two weeks and acts as an application to the court for a family violence intervention order.^[23]

Family violence intervention order (FVIO)

An order made by a court under the Family Violence Protection Act 2008 (Vic) to protect a person from a family member, partner or ex-partner who is using (or has used) violence against them.^[24] An order can be made on an interim (short-term) or final (longer-term) basis.^[25]

Indirect violence

Refers to the harm and negative impacts children and young people may experience as a result of family violence, even where they are not directly targeted by the perpetrator. Examples of indirect violence include witnessing or hearing violence towards another family member and/or experiencing its after-effects, including property damage, financial instability, housing instability or homelessness.^[26]

Intimate partner violence

Behaviour within an intimate relationship which causes physical, sexual or psychological harm. Intimate partner violence may also be called domestic violence. An intimate relationship may include a romantic or sexual relationship, a current or past marriage, a domestic partnership or a dating relationship.^[27]

Jurisdiction

A court’s authority to hear and decide legal disputes in a certain area of law. A court’s jurisdiction may be defined in legislation to include specific kinds of legal disputes, monetary limits or matters relation to certain groups of people.^[28]

Leave

Permission granted by a court to do something, such as making an application.^[29]

Magistrate

A person who has been appointed under the Magistrates’ Court Act 1989 (Vic).^[30] A magistrate is responsible for making directions, decisions and orders of the court. Magistrates hear and make decisions in the Magistrates’ and Children’s Court.^[31]

MARAM

The Family Violence Multi-Agency Risk Assessment and Management Framework, established in 2018 via an amendment to the Family Violence Protection Act 2008 (Vic).^[32] MARAM aims to ‘increase the safety and wellbeing of Victorians by ensuring all relevant services are effectively identifying, assessing and managing family violence risk, consistent with their roles in the service system’.^[33]

Parenting order

A court order outlining parenting arrangements for a child or children. A parenting order may deal with the care and welfare of a child, where a child will live, how much time they will spend with each parent and other people, and how parents can communicate with children when they are not in their care.^[34]

Party

A person who is involved in a case. Parties to a proceeding include the applicant for a family violence intervention order, any affected family members and the respondent.^[35]

Perpetrator

A person who is using (or has used) family violence against a family member. In relation to applications for family violence intervention orders, they may also be referred to as the respondent.

Protected person

A person who is protected by a family violence intervention order or safety notice.^[36] Also referred to in this report as a protected adult or protected child.

Respondent

A person who has had a family violence safety notice, an application for a family violence intervention order, or a family violence intervention order made against them.^[37] Sometimes referred to as the perpetrator.

Safe contact order

A term used for a type of family violence intervention order, which prohibits a respondent from using family violence but permits contact or allows parties to keep living together.^[38]

Service

Formal delivery of legal documents to a specified party, that proves to the court that the person received the documents and has been made aware of them.^[39]

Systems abuse

The manipulation of legal and other systems by perpetrators to exert control over, threaten, and harass a victim-survivor. Systems abuse may include making multiple applications or complaints in court, or using child support or Centrelink systems to interrupt, delay, or dismiss legal processes and cause a victim-survivor emotional and financial harm.^[40]

Young person

A term used by the Commission and people who contributed to this report as a general term that encompasses older children who might not feel comfortable being called ‘children’ as well as younger adults.

Victim-survivor

An adult or child who is experiencing (or who has experienced) family violence. Also referred to as an affected family member or protected person in relation to family violence intervention orders.