Reports and articles about domestic violence have dominated our newsfeeds of late. We know that hitting or physically hurting someone is not acceptable.

But is domestic violence limited to physical abuse? The answer is no.

Domestic violence is defined in section 8 of the Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act 2012 (Qld).  It can take many forms. It is behaviour that is physically, sexually, emotionally, psychologically or economically abusive, or threatening or controlling behaviour. We have set out in more detail what can be considered as domestic violence on our Services page.

If you are a victim of domestic and family violence, you can apply for a Domestic Violence Order, otherwise known as a Protection Order, against the perpetrator of such violence. This purpose of this Order is to provide you with some protection in that it makes it a criminal offence for the perpetrator to commit acts of domestic violence against you. It can include other conditions, such as not allowing the perpetrator to contact you, or come near you, or have other people attend to this.  This application is filed in the Magistrates Court of Queensland.

As with any Court proceedings, understanding your rights under the law can be a very daunting process.  To assist parties to navigate the Court process, the Magistrates Court have complied a series of short, helpful videos explaining:

  1. What is domestic and family violence
  2. What is a domestic violence order
  3. How to apply for a protection order
  4. The Court process once you have applied for a protection order
  5. What happens if you are served with an application for a protection order (i.e. someone has applied for a protection order against you)
  6. Understanding the conditions of a protection order (i.e. what you can and cannot do if you are subject to a protection order

The videos are available on the Magistrates Court of Queensland website here and are in English, Auslan, Arabic, Mandarin, Persian/Farsi, Spanish, Thai and Vietnamese.

If you would like to know more about applying for a Protection Order or if you are the Respondent in an Application for a Protection Order, contact one of our solicitors today.