A submission to the Queensland Government Education, Arts and Communities Committee Inquiry into the Domestic and Family Violence Protection and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025. It addresses one aspect of the proposed Bill which is of particular concern. The Bill proposes to empower police officers to administratively issue immediate long-term protection directions without filing an application for a proceeding before a court.

The submission outlines the deep concerns that the proposal for police to be able to issue an on-the-spot 12-month protection order will not, in many cases, provide additional protections for victim–survivors.  It recommends that on-the-spot Police Protection Directions as proposed not be introduced.

Key points

• Significant risk that police may not correctly identify the person most in need of protection when issuing orders.
• Chronic fear often leads female victim–survivors to side with the perpetrator against the police.
• The consequences of a wrongly issued 12-month order place the victim–survivor and their children, often left with the perpetrator, at significant additional risk.
• From the police perspective, it also increases organisational risk, including reduced public trust, when officers, for whatever reason, misidentify a perpetrator.