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DOMESTIC AND FAMILY VIOLENCE PROTECTION ACT 2012 - SECT 8
Meaning of domestic violence
(1)
"Domestic violence" means behaviour, or a pattern of behaviour, by a person
(the
"first person" ) towards another person (the
"second person" ) with whom the first person is in a relevant relationship
that— (a) is physically or sexually abusive; or
(b) is emotionally or
psychologically abusive; or
(c) is economically abusive; or
(d) is
threatening; or
(e) is coercive; or
(f) in any other way controls or
dominates the second person and causes the second person to fear for the
second person’s safety or wellbeing or that of someone else.
(2) Behaviour,
or a pattern of behaviour, mentioned in subsection (1) — (a) may occur over
a period of time; and
(b) may be more than 1 act, or a series of acts, that
when considered cumulatively is abusive, threatening, coercive or causes fear
in a way mentioned in that subsection; and
(c) is to be considered in the
context of the relationship between the first person and the second person as
a whole.
(3) Without limiting subsection (1) or (2) , domestic violence
includes the following behaviour— (a) causing personal injury to a person or
threatening to do so;
(b) coercing a person to engage in sexual activity or
attempting to do so;
(c) damaging a person’s property or threatening to do
so;
(d) depriving a person of the person’s liberty or threatening to do so;
(e) threatening a person with the death or injury of the person, a child of
the person, or someone else;
(f) threatening to commit suicide or self-harm
so as to torment, intimidate or frighten the person to whom the behaviour is
directed;
(g) causing or threatening to cause the death of, or injury to, an
animal, whether or not the animal belongs to the person to whom the behaviour
is directed, so as to control, dominate or coerce the person;
(h)
unauthorised surveillance of a person;
(i) unlawfully stalking, intimidating,
harassing or abusing a person.
(4) A person who counsels or procures someone
else to engage in behaviour that, if engaged in by the person, would be
domestic violence is taken to have committed domestic violence.
(5) To remove
any doubt, it is declared that, for behaviour mentioned in subsection (3) that
may constitute a criminal offence, a court may make an order under this Act on
the basis that the behaviour is domestic violence even if the behaviour is not
proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
(6) In this section—
"coerce" , a person, means compel or force a person to do, or refrain from
doing, something.
"unauthorised surveillance" , of a person, means the unreasonable monitoring
or tracking of the person’s movements, activities or interpersonal
associations without the person’s consent, including, for example, by using
technology. Examples of surveillance by using technology— • reading a
person’s SMS messages
• monitoring a person’s email account or internet
browser history
• monitoring a person’s account with a social networking
internet site
• using a GPS device to track a person’s movements
•
checking the recorded history in a person’s GPS device
"unlawful stalking, intimidation, harassment or abuse" see the Criminal Code ,
sections 359B and 359D .
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