Family Violence Act 2016

A court may, on application, make a final order if satisfied that—

the affected person has reasonable grounds to fear family violence by the respondent; or

the respondent has used family violence against the affected person.

The court must consider the matters mentioned in s 14 in deciding whether to make the final order.

An affected person includes any child who hears, witnesses or is otherwise exposed to family violence committed against another person (see s 8 (1), def family violence, par (b) and dict).

This section does not apply to consent orders (see s 33 (2) (b)).

For this section—

if some or all of the respondent’s alleged behaviour in relation to which the application is made appears to be minor or trivial when viewed in isolation, or appears unlikely to recur, the court must still consider whether the behaviour forms part of a pattern of behaviour by the respondent from which the affected person needs protection; and

it is sufficient to establish that the affected person has reasonable grounds to fear family violence by the respondent, or that family violence has been used by the respondent in relation to the affected person, if the respondent has—

engaged in behaviour mentioned in section 8 (1), definition of family violence, paragraph (a) in relation to the affected person; and

the behaviour constitutes an offence.

However, it is not necessary to prove that any particular behaviour constitutes an offence to establish that family violence occurred.