Restraining Orders Act 1997

A registered foreign restraining order operates in this State, and this Act applies to it, as if it were an FVRO or VRO that is a final order and that was served in accordance with this Act on the day on which it was registered.

Without limiting subsection (1), for the purposes of applying Part 5 to a registered foreign restraining order —

a reference to varying a final order is to be read as a reference to making an order varying the operation in this State of the registered foreign restraining order; and

a reference to cancelling a final order is to be read as a reference to making an order cancelling the registration of the foreign restraining order.

The order operates as a final order even though an appeal against it may be pending, or it may still be subject to appeal, in the courts of the foreign country.

In proceedings for a breach of the order, proof is not required —

that the order was made by the foreign court; or

that the order was served on the person who is bound by it.

It is a defence to a charge of breaching the order for the person who is bound by the order to satisfy the court that —

the order had been varied under the corresponding law of the foreign country so that the behaviour that is alleged to constitute the breach did not amount to a breach of the order as in force in the foreign country at the material time; or

the order had been cancelled under the corresponding law of the foreign country and was not in force in that country at the material time.