Ministry of Justice, New Zealand

PROTECTION ORDERS

Police-issued orders

1. Do you think police-issued orders should be introduced or do you believe that current police powers are sufficient for enforcement purposes? Please give reasons for your view.

2. What do you see as the benefits of police-issued orders?

3. What disadvantages would there be in introducing police-issued orders? How could those disadvantages be addressed?

4. Do you have any views on the length of the short-term protection order?

5. What conditions do you think should be attached to police orders?

Application for temporary orders

6. Should the Court be required to give written reasons when a section 13 application for a temporary protection order is either declined or put on notice?

7. Do you think an applicant, who has had his or her application for a temporary protection declined, should be eligible for a hearing to address the issues that led to the decline?

8. Do you think that rather than a without notice application being placed on notice that it should instead be referred to the applicant and the following queries made: whether the applicant wants the application to proceed on notice, or make a new application, or withdraw application completely.

Discharging orders

9. Do you think the Act should be amended to emphasize that the Judge can discharge a protection order (including a temporary order) only if he or she is satisfied that the order is no longer necessary for the protection of the applicant, or child of the applicant’s family, or both?

10. Do you believe that over-ruling the applicant’s wishes is desirable?

11. Do you think it would be more appropriate for the Act to specify criteria that have to be met before the Court discharges a protection order? What criteria do you think would be appropriate?

12. If the wishes of the applicant to discharge appear to diverge from the interests or safety of the children, how should the Court give children status in the Court?

Undertakings

13. Do you have any experiences or views on the use of undertakings in domestic violence proceedings? Do you believe they are a useful tool for resolving cases or, do you think their use puts victims at risk?

ENFORCING PROTECTION ORDERS

Arrest

14. What is your view on the current criteria in section 50(1) for arrest without a warrant for breach of a protection order – how are the criteria working in practice?

15. Should the statutory criteria for arrest without a warrant for breach of a protection order be kept, or should the criteria be amended or repealed?

16. 1If you believe the criteria should be amended, what criteria do you believe should be included?

17. Is there any reason why the law should treat arrest without a warrant for breaches of protection orders differently from arrest without a warrant for other offences?

Penalty

18. How should the Court enforce programme attendance?

19. Should the two-tier system, with a lower penalty for first offences, be kept? If so, what are your reasons? If not, why not?

20. Should failure to attend a programme be a separate offence? Why?

LINKS BETWEEN THE FAMILY AND DISTRICT COURTS

Bail

21. What advantages would there be if affidavits from protection order proceedings were made available to Judges hearing bail applications, where the offence is either a breach of the protection order, or a charge of assault against the protected person? What would the disadvantages be?

22. Have you a view as to how the disadvantages could be addressed?

23. Should affidavits be available only in cases where the bail hearing relates to the same incident that led to the protection order being issued?

24. What other information about the victim’s situation should a Judge consider when deciding bail?

Sentencing

25. What advantages would there be if a Judge when sentencing an offender for a crime involving domestic violence was able to make a protection order? What would the disadvantages be?

26. Have you a view as to how the disadvantages could be addressed?

27. Do you think a Judge should be able to make a protection order in these circumstances?

28. Do you think the victim’s consent should be necessary before an order was made?

29. Does the proposal raise any special concerns for the children of the offender/respondent?

CHILDREN

30. Should the Court be required to provide parties the opportunity to review contact issues after a defined period after a temporary order is made?

31. Do you think it would be helpful to have counsel for the child appointed for any domestic violence cases where children are affected?

32. Should the protection order continue to cover the children when the protected person dies? If so, for how long?

33. Do you know of any cases where the protected person died and contact between the children and the respondent was an issue?

34. Should a child, who is covered by a protection order obtained by their parent or caregiver, continue to be covered by the order when they turn 17 and they remain living with the applicant (parent or caregiver)? Please give reasons for your opinion.

35. If you think a protection order should continue to cover children 17 years and over in the circumstances outlined above, do you think the order should permanently cease to apply to the young person once they move out of home, or should it be reactivated upon their return to their home up to a certain age?

36. When the young person continues to live with the protected person should the protection order cease to cover them at a particular age?

PROGRAMMES

For respondents

37. Do you think attendance at programmes by respondents of temporary orders should be delayed until a final order is made?

38. Should there be compulsory summons to a Family Court of respondents if they fail to attend a programme?

39. Should respondents be eligible for more than one course? If so, what eligibility criteria, if any, do you think should be applied?

40. Should there be a specific power under the Act to direct a respondent to undergo a drug and alcohol assessment and attend a drug and alcohol programme or receive mental health treatment if necessary, in addition to stopping violence programmes?

41. Do you have any suggestions as to how to encourage respondents to attend the programmes?

For protected persons

42. Should programmes be available to protected persons for longer than the current three-year period? If so, for how long, for example, for the duration of the order, or for some other length of time?

43. Should protected persons be able to attend more than one programme? If so, in what circumstances or situations would further programmes be helpful?

44. What are your views about applicants being required to attend an initial session for assessment of their need to attend a programme? If you think it is a good idea do you think failure to attend should attract a penalty or would it be better if attendance was voluntary?

45. Do you think the Family Court should provide victims with a point of access to a wider range of social services? If so, what social services do victims need most that are not already available to them? Who would be best placed to provide this service? And how would it be delivered?

46. Can you suggest other ways to encourage more protected persons to attend programmes?

47. Should programmes be extended to children who used to be protected persons?

For programme providers

48. Should the Act allow programme providers of respondent programmes to receive the contact details of the protected person, if the protected person wishes to be informed of the respondent’s progress on the programme? If you believe they should – what do you think are the advantages of this proposal?

49. Do you think the information provided should be limited to the respondent’s attendance?

INTERFACE BETWEEN THE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ACT 1995, THE CARE OF CHILDREN ACT 2004 AND THE FAMILY PROCEEDINGS ACT 1980

Care of Children Act 2004

50. Do you believe it would be appropriate to include a definition of psychological violence in the Care of Children Act 2004 that is consistent with the definition in the Domestic Violence Act 1995?

51. Do you have any comment to make, where allegations of domestic violence have been made in proceedings for a parenting order, on whether there is a need for the Court to obtain a report from a specialist in domestic violence before making the order?

52. Should section 4 of the Care of Children Act make specific reference to relocation as a result of domestic violence?

53. Should a report from a psychologist always be obtained before a party who has used violence against the other party is granted unsupervised contact?

54. Should the age of a child in the Domestic Violence Act be raised to 18 so as to be consistent with the definition in the Care of Children Act and UNCROC?

Family Proceedings Act 1980

55. Do you agree with maintaining the status quo on the provisions relating to mediation and awaiting the outcome of the Family Courts Matters Bill?