Restraint or Protection Orders

Restraint or Protection Orders are put in place to restrict contact between people. The name of the order can be different depending on what state or territory you live in.

Click on your region below to find out more information.

Differences between states

Northern Territory

Personal Violence Restraining Order (PVRO)

A Personal Violence Restraining Order (PVRO) is a court order that may restrict contact between people or impose conditions on their behaviour. The person who applies for the restraint order is known as the Applicant and the person who is to be restrained is known as the Defendant. The Defendant in the application must be over 15 years of age.

A PVRO differs to a Domestic Violence Order (DVO) in that a PVRO can be made between any two parties – they do not have to be in an intimate relationship, or have previously been in an intimate relationship.

Before deciding on an application for a PVRO, the Magistrate may refer the parties for mediation at a Community Justice Centre. However, if there is a history of violence between the parties or a previous attempt at mediation has been unsuccessful, the Magistrate can hear the application without this occurring.

PVROs are made where a Magistrate determines that the Defendant has committed an act of personal violence against the protected person, or that there is a risk of it occurring. In considering whether to make an order, the Magistrate must consider the safety of the protected person, the previous criminal history of the Defendant, and the previous conduct of the Defendant towards the protected person and any child affected by the personal violence.

Personal violence can include many forms of threats or harassment, such as:

physical violence or abuse;
sexual abuse;
psychological abuse such as humiliation and intimidation;
damage to property or trespass;
stalking;
provocative or offensive behaviour likely to lead to a breach of the peace; or
threats or threatening behaviour and harassment.

Many of the above types of behaviour are also offences and should be reported to the police immediately.

Urgent applications may be heard within days from when the application is lodged. In order to have an urgent hearing there must be a high level of risk and it is heard in the absence of the Defendant.

How To Apply?

You can apply for a PRVO by filling in an application form and filing it at the Magistrates Court (this will involve paying a fee). The police also have the power to apply for a Restraint Order on behalf of someone.

A PRVO application form can be obtained online from the Magistrates Court. The form can be filled in by the Applicant themselves or with the assistance of a solicitor, friend or support worker if the Applicant agrees.

The application must contain as much information as possible so that the magistrate can be satisfied that the person the Applicant wishes to restrain has committed the acts and that they are likely to commit them again in the future.

What Happens Next?

After you have filed your application, the Court may order that you attend a mediation conference with the other party.

A mediation conference is a forum which provides an opportunity for parties to make a genuine effort to settle their disputes with the assistance of an independent mediator who is a member of a Community Justice Centre. Reaching an agreement during the mediation conference will save the need for further court time.

In place of a PRVO, the parties may agree to an undertaking. An undertaking is a formal pledge or promise to do or stop doing something. It is not enforceable in Court, however it is like a promise to the Court and the other party.

The offending party can offer the other party a written promise as assurance, placing conditions on their behaviour. The parties may elect to have it adjourned in order to proceed with an undertaking. If an undertaking is breached, the application for a restraint order can be brought back to court. If you break that promise or undertaking the court will be unimpressed with you the next time you appear before them.

Sometimes the outcome of a conciliation conference is an agreement that an order should be made. The parties can agree to this without admitting to the contents of the application or response to the application.

If you do not come to an agreement, the application may proceed to a hearing. The magistrate will decide whether to grant an order or not and in what terms.

Conditions

There are various orders which can be made under a PVRO. These include limiting the contact between the parties, and preventing the Defendant from:

assaulting or threatening the Applicant;
stalking the Applicant;
acting in an offensive manner;
contacting or approaching the Applicant at home or work;
damaging property; or
possessing firearms.

Breaching an Order

If a person disobeys the terms of their order, this is known as a breach, or contravention. Breaching a PVRO is a criminal offence that carries significant penalties. For example, if the abuser approaches you in the street when they are not supposed to, or sends abusive text messages, they may be breaching the order.

If this happens, call the police.

ACT

Protection Orders

A Protection Order is a court order that may restrict contact between people or impose conditions on their behaviour. The person who applies for the restraint order is known as the applicant and the person who is to be restrained is known as the respondent.

If the applicant is in a domestic relationship with the respondent they can apply for a Domestic Violence Order (DVO).

If the appliance and the respondent are not in a domestic relationship, there are two other types of orders – Personal Protection Orders, and Workplace Protection Orders.

Personal Protection Order

Personal Protection Orders can help protect you from a person who is not in the category of people covered by a DVO. For example, you can apply for a Personal Protection Order from a neighbour.

Personal violence is behaviour by a person in relation another that may include:

physical violence or abuse
sexual violence or abuse
threatening behaviour
stalking
harassing, intimidating or offensive behaviour, or
damaging property.

Many of the above types of behaviour are also offences and should be reported to the police immediately.

A Personal Protection Order can be made for a maximum period of 12 months.

Workplace Protection Order

If you experience personal violence in the workplace, you can apply for a Workplace Protection Order.

Personal violence in a workplace is behaviour by a person in relation another person at that workplace, that may include:

physical violence or abuse
sexual violence or abuse
threatening behaviour
stalking, or
harassing, intimidating or offensive behaviour.

It can also include property damage at the workplace if that damage causes reasonable fear to the person.

A Workplace Protection Order can be made for a maximum period of 12 months.

How To Apply?

You can apply for a Protection Order by filling in an application form and filing it at the Magistrates Court. The police also have the power to apply for a Protection Order on behalf of a person.

All the forms needed to apply for a Personal Protection Order or Workplace Protection Order can be obtained from the Magistrates Court website. You can fill in the application yourself, or with the help of a lawyer, friend or support worker. The Legal Aid Domestic Violence and Personal Protection Orders Unit can help.

The application must contain as much information as possible so that the Magistrate can be satisfied that the person the applicant wishes to restrain has committed the acts and that they are likely to commit them again in the future.

Protection Orders are generally used against people who will only stop doing the offending acts if a court tells them to.

What Happens Next?

Once the applicant has filed their application at the court, the first step is for the parties to go to a preliminary conference.

A preliminary conference is a meeting with a deputy registrar of the court. The aim of the preliminary conference is to find out if the application can be settled by consent. This means it does not need to go to court and be heard by a Magistrate).

At the preliminary conference you do not need to be in the same room as the other person.

If you and the other party reach an agreement, then an order protecting you can be made by consent.

If you do not agree then the deputy registrar will provide you with a date that the matter will be heard by a Magistrate. This will not happen on the same day as the first preliminary conference. On this date, you will need to be prepared to run your case. You need to bring to court on the hearing day, any evidence or witnesses that you will be relying on to support your case.

If the Magistrate grants a protection order, it will contain conditions about what the other person can and cannot do.

Conditions

There are various orders that can be made under a Protection Order. These include limiting the contact between the parties, and preventing the defendant from:

assaulting or threatening the applicant
stalking the applicant
acting in an offensive manner
contacting or approaching the applicant at home or work
damaging property, or
possessing firearms.

Breaching an Order

If a person disobeys the terms of their order, this is known as a breach, or contravention. Breaching a Protection Order is a criminal offence that carries significant penalties. For example, if the abuser approaches you in the street when they are not supposed to, or sends abusive text messages, they may be breaching the order. If this happens, call the police.

Western Australia

A person can apply to the Magistrates court for an order that stops another person from behaving in a certain way towards them. The person who applies for the order is known as the applicant and the person who is to be restrained by the order is known as the respondent.

If you need to apply for an order against a family member, you can apply for a Family Violence Restraining Order. You can find out more about FVRO’s here.

If the applicant and the respondent are not family members, there are two other types of orders that might apply – Violence Restraining Orders, and Misconduct Restraining Orders.

Violence Restraining Orders

You can apply to the court for a Violence Restraining Order (VRO) against someone who is not a family member if you need protection because of the risk of personal violence. The court can also make a VRO to protect children from being exposed to personal violence.

Personal violence means:

assaulting you or causing you injury
kidnapping you or depriving you of your liberty
threatening to do any of those things above, or
stalking you.

The court can make a VRO against the respondent to protect you if:

the respondent has committed personal violence against you and is likely to commit personal violence against you in the future, or
you have good reasons to think that the respondent will commit personal violence against you.

A VRO can have conditions to stop the respondent from doing certain things, such as:

coming to or near where you live or work
being at or near a certain place
coming within a certain distance of you, or
contacting or trying to communicate with you in any way.

If the respondent breaks any of those restrictions, they are committing a criminal offence.

The court can include a condition that the respondent has one opportunity to collect their personal items from somewhere they used to live or work (usually with a police officer).

The restrictions in the VRO can be shaped to suit your situation.

If possible, you should get legal advice before you make your application. You can contact Legal Aid WA’s InfoLine on 1300 650 579 for more information or referral.

Misconduct Restraining Order (MRO)

You can apply to the court for a Misconduct Restraining Order (MRO) against someone who is not a family member, if you need protection because of their disruptive, offensive or destructive behaviour.

The court can make an MRO against someone (called the respondent), if they are likely to:

behave in a way that would reasonably intimidate or offend you
damage property that you own or possess, or
behave in a way that is, or is likely to lead to, a breach of the peace.

A breach of the peace is a legal term that describes disruptive behaviour, such as:

regularly yelling or shouting in public
protesting in a way that prevents people from carrying out their work, or
intimidating people who are trying to enter or use a public place.

An MRO can include any restrictions the court thinks are needed to stop the respondent from continuing the behaviour, such as:

coming to or near where you live or work
being at or near a certain place
coming within a certain distance of you, or
contacting or trying to communicate with you in any way.

If the respondent breaks any of those restrictions, they are committing a criminal offence.

Victoria

Personal Safety Intervention Order (PSIO)

A Personal Safety Intervention Orders (PSIO) is an Intervention Order between people who are not family members or in a family-like relationship. For example, a PSIO may be between neighbours, friends or housemates.

How To Apply?

In Victoria you can apply for a PSIO by filing a completed application with your local Magistrates Court. The application form can be found here. You can find a list showing your local Magistrates Court here.

You may want to make an application for a PSIO if you are in fear for your safety, have been subjected to stalking behaviour, threats of violence have been made against you.

A Magistrate may make a PSIO order if the respondent has done any of the following things to you:

assault
sexual assault
harassment
property damage or interference with property
serious threats, or
stalking.

Before you apply for a PSIO you may wish to contact the Dispute Settlement Service of Victoria. They can provide a free mediation service to help you settle your dispute.

What happens next?

After you have filed your application in the court, the police will send the respondent copies of the application.

The respondent can choose whether to:

agree to an order being made while disagreeing with what is said about them in the application – this is called ‘consent without admissions’
argue against the order – the parties will need to come back to court for a contested hearing (intervention orders), or
offer an undertaking.

If the respondent disagrees with an order then the application will be heard by a Magistrate who will make a decision after considering the evidence and what both parties want to do.

Conditions

There are various conditions which can be included under a PSIO. These include orders that prevent the respondent from:

stalking a protected person
committing prohibited behaviour towards a protected person
attempting to locate, follow the protected person or keep them under surveillance
publishing on the internet, by email or other electronic communication any material about the protected person
contacting or communicating with the protected person by any means
approaching or remaining with within a certain distance of a protected person
going to or remaining within a certain distance of anywhere the protected person lives, works, or attends school/childcare, or
getting another person to do anything that the Respondent is not allowed to do under the PSIO.

The may also be an order that forces a respondent to hand over firearms to the police.

Breaching an Order

If a person disobeys the terms of their order, this is known as a breach, or contravention. Breaching a PSIO is a criminal offence that carries significant penalties. For example, if the abuser approaches you in the street when they are not supposed to, or sends abusive text messages, they may be breaching the order. If this happens, call the police.

South Australia

Intervention Orders

In South Australia, a person can apply for an intervention order to protect themselves from certain forms of violence. You can apply for an intervention order where you have been subject to abuse (either physical, sexual or psychological), and will be subject to further abuse if the order is not made.

An Intervention Order can stop someone:

approaching you or family members at your home or any place
contacting, harassing, threatening or intimidating you or any other person at a place where you live or work
communicating with you in any way
publishing any material about you
assaulting, harassing, threatening or intimidating you, or
damaging property.

How To Apply?

An application can be made to a police officer or a solicitor.

If the police attend your home as a result of an incident, and certain criteria is satisfied, an intervention order may be issued, or an application taken by the police.

Applications can also be made at any police station. The police will get a signed statement from you and give you advice on the process involved. This will include how the application process works, how to report breaches of an order, and what conditions on the order are required for your protection.

Please contact Women’s Legal Service South Australia on 08 8221 5553 or 1800 670 864 for legal advice or referrals.

What Happens Next?

If you apply to the court for an order, you will be given a date to go to the court. The Magistrate might ask you questions about the application. The respondent will not be at the court on this date. If the Magistrate makes the order then the police will give a copy of the order to the respondent. The respondent might disagree with the order. If this happens, there might be a court hearing where you may have to give evidence.

Breaches of an Order

If a person disobeys the terms of their order, this is known as a breach, or contravention. Breaching an Intervention Order is a criminal offence that carries significant penalties. For example, if the abuser approaches you in the street when they are not supposed to, or sends abusive text messages, they may be breaching the order. If this happens, call the police. It is a good idea to keep copies of text messages, or write down the details of incidents.

Tasmania

Restraint Orders

A Restraint Order is a court order that may restrict contact between people or impose conditions on their behaviour. The person who applies for the restraint order is known as the applicant and the person who is to be restrained is known as the respondent.

Restraint Orders are made where a Magistrate determines that the defendant has committed an act of personal violence against the protected person, or that there is a risk of it occurring. In considering whether to make an order, the Magistrate must consider the safety of the protected person, the previous criminal history of the respondent, and the previous conduct of the Respondent towards the applicant as well as any child affected by the personal violence.

Personal violence can include many forms of threats or harassment, such as:

physical violence or abuse
sexual abuse
psychological abuse such as humiliation and intimidation
damage to property or trespass
stalking
provocative or offensive behaviour likely to lead to a breach of the peace, or
threats or threatening behaviour and harassment.

Many of the above types of behaviour are also offences and should be reported to the police immediately.

The respondent must be likely to:

cause the same or similar injury or damage
carry out a threat, or
behave in the same or similar provocative or offensive manner.

How To Apply?

You can apply for a Restraint Order by filling in an application form and filing it at the Magistrates Court. The police also have the power to apply for a Restraint Order on behalf of a person.

A Restraint Order application form can be obtained from the Magistrates Court website.

The form can be filled in by the applicant themselves or with the assistance of a solicitor, friend or support worker if the applicant agrees.

Restraint Orders are generally used against people who will only stop doing the offending acts if a court tells them to.

Restraint Orders can be applied for in situations where there is a neighbourhood dispute or the behaviour is between children and parents, siblings, friends or acquaintances. If you are in an intimate relationship or have been you can apply for a Family Violence Order.

For further information or for advice, you can contact Women’s Legal Service Tasmania on 1800 682 468.

What Happens Next?

After you have filed your application, the Court may order that you attend a conciliation conference with the other party.

A conciliation conference is a form of mediation which provides an opportunity for parties to make a genuine effort to settle their disputes with the assistance of an independent conciliator. Reaching an agreement during the conciliation conference will save the need for further court time.

In place of a restraint order, the parties may agree to an undertaking. An undertaking is a formal pledge or promise to do or stop doing something. It is not enforceable in court however it is like a promise to the court and the other party.

Sometimes the outcome of a Conciliation Conference is an agreement that an Order should be made. The parties can agree to this without admitting to the contents of the application or response to the application (this means that both parties agree to put the Order in place, even if they don’t agree with what the other party says happened).

If you do not come to an agreement, the application may proceed to a hearing. The Magistrate will decide whether to grant an order or not and in what terms.

Conditions

There are various orders which can be made under a Restraint Order. These include limiting the contact between the parties, and preventing the Defendant from:

assaulting or threatening the applicant
stalking the applicant
acting in an offensive manner
contacting or approaching the applicant at home or work
damaging property, or
possessing firearms.

Breaching an Order

Breach of a Restraint Order is an offence, and you should contact the police if the order is breached. The penalty for breaching an order can be a large fine or imprisonment.

Queensland

Restraint Orders

A Restraint Order is a court order that may restrict contact between people or impose conditions on their behaviour. The person who applies for the Restraint Order is known as the applicant and the person who is to be restrained is known as the respondent.

In Queensland, there are a number of Restraint Orders, including a Domestic Violence Order, a Peace and Good Behaviour Order, and a Restraining Order in respect of stalking. The appropriate order which you should apply for will depend on your relationship with the respondent.

Restraint Orders are a fast and flexible method of getting legal protection from many forms of harassment and violence, including:

physical abuse
sexual abuse
psychological abuse such as humiliation and intimidation
damage to property
stalking, and
threats and harassment.

Many of the above types of behaviour are also offences and should be reported to the police immediately.

Restraining Orders

A restraining order may be made by a Magistrate against a person who has been charged with the offence of unlawful stalking whether or not that person is subsequently found guilty of the offence. Unlawful stalking is conduct which:

is intentionally directed at a person
engaged in on any one occasion if the conduct is drawn out, or on more than one occasion, and
consists of acts which cause a person apprehension or fear of violence, or harm.

If you think you are being stalked, you should immediately make a complaint to the police.

Restraining Order Conditions

There are various orders, which can be made under a restraining order. The court will make an appropriate restraining order against the person in relation to any person or any property having regard to the circumstances of the ‘unlawful stalking’.

Peace and Good Behaviour Orders

A Peace and Good Behaviour Order may be made by a Magistrate against a person who is not in an intimate personal or family relationship with you, who you fear and who has threatened to:

assault or to injure, or have someone else assault or injure, you or any person in your care, or
destroy or damage, or have someone else destroy or damage, your property.

Peace and Good Behaviour Order Conditions

The court may make any orders it thinks fit, including orders which prevent the other person from threatening you or contacting you, coming to your home or damaging or affecting your use and enjoyment of your property.

How to apply for a Peace and Good Behaviour Order?

You can apply for a Peace and Good Behaviour Order by filling in an application form (called Form 01 – Complaint from the Queensland Court’s website) and filing it at the Magistrates Court.

The application must contain as much information as possible so that the Magistrate can be satisfied that the person you wish to get the order against has committed the acts and that they are likely to commit them again in the future.

You’ll need to attend court (with or without legal representation) to get the order. You may bring a lawyer, friend or relative to court for support.

What happens next?

When an application is heard in the court, the Magistrate can make an order if the defendant agrees, or if the defendant does not come to court.

Sometimes the Magistrate might require that you go to mediation before proceeding.

If the defendant does not agree to the order being made, the Magistrate will set a hearing date, where both parties present their version of events and provide evidence, such as witnesses or written material as a sworn affidavit. The Magistrate makes a decision based on the evidence presented.

Breaches of Orders

Breach of a Restraint Order (DVO, Peace and Good Behaviour Order or Restraining Order) is an offence. You need to contact the police if the Restraint Order is breached. The penalty for breaching a Restraint Order can include significant fines and/or periods of imprisonment.