Who makes an Application for a Protection Order

Applying for a Domestic Violence Protection Order

In Queensland an Application for a Domestic Violence Protection Order can be made by:

• The Police (usually after they have attended an incident); or

• By the “Aggrieved” (the person who needs the Protection of a Domestic Violence Protection Order).

For the Act to apply, a specific type of relationship must exist between the persons.

Those type of relationships will include people who:

 

 

Either are, or have been in the past, married or in a de facto relationship;

Are the biological parents of a child of the relationship (even if it was a one night stand);

Either are, or have been in the past, engaged or betrothed;

• Either are dating, or have in the past dated, but only if their lives became enmeshed while dating;

• Are related by blood or marriage;

• Is regarded as a relative, if their culture is such that the concept of a relative is somewhat wider;

• An informal care relationship (ie. where one person is dependent on another for activities of daily living, such as with a carer relationship.

 

From 17 September 2012, under the changes to the legislation, the type of relationship covered by the Act was expanded and extended to include:

• a person with “parental responsibility” for a Child;

• people in a cyber relationship;

• More types of “dating relationships” since the requirement for their lives to have become “enmeshed” has been removed.

NOTE:

• The content on this page represents the law in Queensland.  Domestic Violence laws vary according to each State and Territory in Australia.
• In Qld Protection Orders are called Domestic Violence Protection Orders or a “DVO”.
• Other States refer to a Relationship Violence Protection Order or DVO as:
  • NSW: In New South Wales it is an Aprehended Domestic Violence Order (AVO) or (ADVO) or an Apprehended Personal Violence Order (APVO);
  • VIC: In Victoria it is a Family Violence Intervention Order (FVIO);
  • ACT: In the Austalian Capital Territory it is a Domestic Violence Protection Orders (DVO)
  • TAS: In Tasmainia it is Family Violence Order (FVO) or Police Family Violence Order (PFVO);
  • S.A.: In South Australia it is an Intervention Order (IO);
  • W.A.: In Western Australia it is a Violence Restraining Order (VRO);
  • N.T.: In the Northern Territory it is a Domestic Violence Protection Orders (DVO)
  • So variously it is referred to as a Domestic Violence Order, Intervention Order, Restraining Order, Protection Order, Apprehended Violence Order, Violence Restraining Order etc.