Domestic violence offenders to face harsher penalties under new laws

Domestic violence offenders who breach protection orders to face harsher penalties under proposed laws In short: The Queensland government is set to introduce a range of new and increased offences for domestic and family violence offenders. The changes include harsher penalties for offenders who breach protection orders, an expansion of an electronic monitoring pilot, and the ability for police to issue immediate directives to perpetrators. What's next? The legislation is expected to be introduced in parliament on Thursday. Domestic and family violence offenders who breach protection orders will face harsher penalties under new proposed laws from the Queensland government. It comes after the premier was forced to rule out changes to the definition of a domestic and family violence (DFV) victim for Police Protection Directions (PPDs). The orders allow police to issue immediate directives for perpetrators to not commit DFV against someone, or face fines or jail. Legislation expected to be introduced on Thursday will create new offences for the repeated contravention of a PPD, or a Domestic Violence Order (DVO). It would increase the duration of a PPD from 12 months to three years, and the maximum penalty for breaching an order from three to five years. An electronic ankle monitoring pilot for high-risk DFV offenders will be expanded statewide, and a requirement introduced for courts to consider fitting a device as part of a DVO. Police Minister Dan Purdie said the changes were about trying to ease the workload of police. "We're going to make sure that we expand it, and we give police the powers that they need to rapidly protect victims and get to that next victim sooner." The changes are expected to remove many of the barriers police face in issuing PPDs, which can force them to go to court to implement an order. PPDs have been criticised by some experts, with evidence previously showing police mis-identified who the perpetrator and victim were in DFV incidents in around a third of call-outs. Calls to change DFV victim definition Queensland Police Union president Shane Prior was supportive of the changes to PPDs and urged the government to go further. He said he would be advocating for the government to change the definition of a DFV victim to only include intimate partner relationships when concerning police orders. "That's the priority because right now, we've got a situation in the state where informal care disputes and family arguments are being pulled into this one remit, and it just ensures it enters the queue like everything else," he said. "And we've got victims of intimate partner violence in the state waiting in the queue for a police response." Asked about changes to the definition on Wednesday morning, Mr Purdie left the door open but said it wasn't "on my desk at the moment". "It is certainly something that we certainly won't be turning away from in the future," he said. "Where the police are spending six hours to take out a protection order on two adult brothers who are having a fight over the Xbox, maybe that focus should be put back on those intimate partner relationships." Mr Purdie claimed it was a change those in the DFV sector had raised with him and later ruled out any changes to the definition. None of the several experts in the space the ABC spoke to said they had been consulted on any change to the definition. The opposition interrogated the issue during parliament. "Will the premier rule out narrowing the meaning of relevant relationships as defined in the Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Act," Labor leader Steven Miles asked in the House. "The answer is yes," Premier David Crisafulli responded. DFV sector experts are expected to be briefed on the changes by the government on Thursday.