New South Wales Consolidated Acts

CRIMES (DOMESTIC AND PERSONAL VIOLENCE) ACT 2007 - SECT 9

9 Objects of Act in relation to domestic violence

(1) The objects of this Act in relation to domestic violence are--

(a) to ensure the safety and protection of all persons, including children, who experience or witness domestic violence, and

(b) to reduce and prevent violence by a person against another person where a domestic relationship exists between those persons, and

(c) to enact provisions that are consistent with certain principles underlying the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, and

(d) to enact provisions that are consistent with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

(2) This Act aims to achieve those objects by--

(a) empowering courts to make apprehended domestic violence orders to protect people from domestic violence, intimidation (including harassment) and stalking, and

(b) ensuring that access to courts is as safe, speedy, inexpensive and simple as is consistent with justice.

(3) In enacting this Act, Parliament recognises--

(a) that domestic violence, in all its forms, is unacceptable behaviour, and

(b) that domestic violence is predominantly perpetrated by men against women and children, and

(c) that domestic violence occurs in all sectors of the community, and

(d) that domestic violence extends beyond physical violence and may involve the exploitation of power imbalances and patterns of abuse over many years, and

(e) that domestic violence occurs in traditional and non-traditional settings, and

(f) the particularly vulnerable position of children who are exposed to domestic violence as victims or witnesses, and the impact that such exposure can have on their current and future physical, psychological and emotional well-being, and

(f1) the particular impact of domestic violence on Aboriginal persons and Torres Strait Islanders, persons from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, persons from gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex communities, older persons and persons with disabilities, and

(f2) the intersection between animal abuse and domestic violence, and

(g) that domestic violence is best addressed through a co-ordinated legal and social response of assistance and prevention of violence and, in certain cases, may be the subject of appropriate intervention by the court.

(4) A court that, or person who, exercises any power conferred by or under this Act in relation to domestic violence must be guided in the exercise of that power by the objects referred to in this section.