Breaches of family violence intervention orders skyrocket in Victoria

Breaches of family violence intervention orders have skyrocketed in just three years in Victoria, leading to calls for harsher penalties for offenders.

Breaches of family violence intervention orders have skyrocketed in just three years in Victoria, rising by almost 4500 offences, or 60 per cent.

An analysis by the Herald Sun can reveal that the state’s magistrates’ courts dealt with 11,917 offences of breaching family violence intervention orders last financial year alone.

That was up from 10,601 offences the year before, and 7493 the year before that.

Data from the Sentencing Advisory Council shows that the most common penalty for a breach was a fine, the average amount being just $523.84 last year.

That’s despite breaching a family violence intervention order being a criminal offence that carries a maximum two years jail and/or a fine of up to 240 penalty units – currently valued at $46,154.40, according to the Family Violence Protection Act.

Between the 2020 and 2023 financial years, 12,978 people were sentenced in the Magistrates’ Court for breaching a family violence IVO – 11,543 were men, and 1435 were women.

Breaches of family violence intervention orders have skyrocketed in just three years in Victoria.

In those three years, Victoria’s lower courts had 22,088 charges of breach FVIVO dealt with through its doors.

One-third of offenders were jailed for an average of about 52 days.

Another third were fined – half of those who received a financial penalty paid less than $500, a further two-fifths paid less than $1000, and not a single perpetrator paid any more than $4000.

About a quarter were handed a community corrections order, while the rest had their charges dismissed.

In the wake of a spate of deaths due to violence against women in Victoria, former police commissioner Kel Glare said harsher penalties needed to be imposed on offenders who breached intervention orders.

Former Victorian Police commissioner Kel Glare says harsher penalties need to be imposed on offenders who breach intervention orders.

Mr Glare also supported introducing tracking devices for violent offenders who are served an IVO.

“An offender should be fitted with a tracking device, like an ankle bracelet when they are served with an intervention order,” he said.

Libby Jewson, CEO at the WRISC Family Violence Support service in Ballarat, said “the most dangerous time” for women was once their partner or ex-partner had been served with an IVO or had been released on bail.

She stressed the importance of good communication between victims and police.

Family violence campaigner Rosie Batty said a decade ago, police would not even acknowledge a breach.

“Breaches should be taken seriously and perpetrators need to be accountable,” she said.

“The whole system continues to need to have pressure placed on it to improve their response.”

Rosie Batty says breaches need to be treated seriously.

Goldstein MP Zoe Daniel said there needed to be a review of the justice system, including bail laws and the effectiveness of intervention orders.

Ms Daniel said better data was needed to identify gaps, and called for criminal consequences to deter violent online porn and misogynistic social media influencers.

She said greater investment in frontline services, including affordable housing for women escaping violent relationships, was also needed in the immediate term.

“The longer term goal is cultural change and a society that is safe and respectful,” Ms Daniel said.

Leading violence against women expert, Prof Kate Fitz-Gibbon, said: “the justice system is failing victims of all forms of gender based violence”.

Prof Fitz-Gibbon said bail and intervention order shortfalls orders were part of the problem, but the entire system was failing to keep victims safe and hold perpetrators to account. ”

“These deaths are preventable and we need to ensure we have the data-led insights at hand to prevent them,” the Monash University professor said.

“There is a need to ensure domestic and family violence risk assessment and safety planning processes for victim-survivors are as effective as possible, and that we have a robust suite of perpetrator interventions.”

Prof Fitz-Gibbon called for national leadership to boost co-ordination between states, including the sharing of vital family violence data, as well as greater investment in early intervention and prevention.

Men are being urged to speak up and report violence against women. Picture: istock

She said the federal government’s $2.2bn commitment over five years to the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children was “unprecedented” but “stretches far too thin”.

“This is not just a federal government budget ask – all states and territory governments committed to the National Plan and it is essential that their commitment is evident in the state budgets,” she said.

Matt Tyler – who leads Jesuit Social Services’ The Men’s Project – said sufficient funding, especially for programs that worked, as well as a better understanding of perpetration was needed to make progress.

A state government insider told the Herald Sun that there were long standing issues with men’s behaviour programs, but work was underway to determine how they could capture more offenders and be delivered more effectively.

However, it is understood that there are now fewer programs on offer due to people leaving the sector.

Our Watch CEO Patty Kinnersly said evidence showed that violence against women was driven by rigid gender stereotypes, sexism and disrespect.

Ms Kinnersly said these attitudes were still widely held and needed to be called out, with research showing that almost one in three men aged 30 and under reported using physical or sexual violence.

“To the vast majority of men who respect women, please speak up: in your workplaces, in your sporting clubs, with your mates and to your boys,” she said.

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