Jail warning for VRO breaches

The State Government has unveiled new legislation to tighten up Violence Restraining Orders (VROs), including locking up those who repeatedly breach the orders.

Attorney General Christian Porter said the revised laws will give VROs more teeth and take into account the community outrage felt when breaches occur, especially when they result in even more serious crimes.

"One of the main features of the legislation is the 'presumption of imprisonment' when people have breached a VRO three times," Mr Porter said.

"This means that upon conviction for the third breach of an order, the law requires the judiciary to presume in favour of imprisoning the offender, and they will have to give written reasons in the judgment if they do not lock the offender up.

"Shockingly, even after a person has been convicted of breaching an order four or more times, there is presently only roughly a 25 per cent chance that they will receive a term of imprisonment.

"The Liberal-National Government will give courts a strong lead to sentence the offenders to a jail term."

Another valuable feature of the new legislation will allow WA Police to extend the duration of the on-the-spot VROs they can hand out from 24 to 72 hours without needing the victim's consent.

This removes the respondent from the situation so that the victim has more time to decide if they would like to go to court and apply for a more permanent order.

Breaching a VRO will also be classed as a 'serious offence' under the Criminal Investigation Act, which makes it harder for an offender to get bail.

"Our changes will also rule out offenders arguing that there are mitigating circumstances to a particular breach because the protected person gave consent for contact to be made, despite an order being in place," the Attorney General said.

Another improvement in the law governing VROs will be the ability of courts to warn the subjects of orders that they cannot commit any unlawful acts while the order applies, broadening the restraints on their behaviour.

Mr Porter said the stronger laws were needed to address the scourge of domestic violence, which damaged the entire community.

"The community must be able to view VROs as a viable safety mechanism and people who breach VROs must be subject to the full extent of the law," he said.

"Since their introduction in 1998 the number of VRO applications has grown from about 8,000 a year to more than 13,000 in 2010.  It's critical the legislation is strengthened to provide better protection to people in the community who find themselves a victim of violent or domestic abuse."