Protecting Australia's Children: A Cross-Jurisdictional Review of Domestic Violence Protection Order Legislation

Abstract

Increasingly, domestic violence is being treated as a child protection issue, and children affected by domestic violence are recognised as experiencing a form of child abuse. Domestic violence protection order legislation as a key legal response to domestic violence may offer an important legal option for the protection of children affected by domestic violence. In this article, we consider the research that establishes domestic violence as a form of child abuse, and review the provisions of State and Territory domestic violence protection order legislation to assess whether they demonstrate an adequate focus on the protection of children.