The Magistrates’ Court of Victoria worked with the Department of Health and Human Services to review current legislation in order to understand the greater impact of this recommendation. This involved consulting with key stakeholders, assessing the impact of the recommendation on all stakeholders, and subsequently drafting the professional development materials and creating plain language resources for all stakeholders.
The Magistrates’ Court of Victoria worked with the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), the Department of Health and Human Services and peak industry and community bodies to ensure women applying for family violence intervention orders receive timely information on their tenancy rights. In practice, this ensures that when the person applying for a family violence intervention order shares a lease with the respondent, the applicant may ask VCAT to have the respondent removed from the lease.
Following extensive consultation the Magistrates’ Court drafted a Judicial Practice Note in May 2017, which provides information to prompt discussion about an applicant’s rights in relation to tenancy.
To support the Practice Note, changes were made to the family violence intervention order application form outlining the VCAT residential jurisdiction and the relevant VCAT 'Renting and Intervention Orders' Brochure has been provided to all Family Violence Registrars across the state to provide to protected persons.