I rise to speak on the Justice Legislation Amendment (Family Violence, Stalking and Other Matters) Bill 2025. Family violence remains one of the most pervasive and devastating harms in our community. It occurs across all communities and all types of relationships, and all too often. In 2023 alone, Victoria Police responded to family violence incidents at a rate of one every 6 minutes, with nearly three-quarters of victims being women and girls. Addressing family and gendered violence is central to community safety, and every Victorian deserves to live free from harm and fear.
Our Royal Commission into Family Violence in 2016 marked a turning point. We heard from victim-survivors and advocates. We witnessed their anguish and learned how violence had upended their lives and sense of safety. We were also humbled by their stories of recovery, healing and advocacy for change. The Victorian government acted decisively and implemented 227 recommendations of the Royal Commission into Family Violence, delivering statewide improvements across police, courts, health, housing, education and specialist support services, and while that progress has been significant, the work is far from over.
Ending family and sexual violence is very complex. Victim-survivors still face barriers, perpetrators continue to exploit gaps and the justice system must evolve to ensure accountability, effective intervention and lasting behaviour change. Gender drivers are woven into the fabric of our society, and while individuals will always be accountable for the violence that they choose to use, we recognise that violence becomes even harder to interrupt when people are carrying trauma, facing mental health challenges or dealing with substance misuse or gambling. We have continued to face new challenges over time since the royal commission, and we must adapt and change.
This bill before us today is strengthening the definition of ‘family violence’ and reflects the realities of these different challenges that we are now facing. It expressly includes stalking, including behaviours designed to locate, intimidate and create fear for victim-survivors; system abuse, improving those services for family violence intervention orders so the protection can start sooner; and abuse of animals, recognising the deep emotional bond between people and their pets or livestock. Perpetrators often threaten, harm or withhold care from animals to control or punish victim-survivors. Courts can now impose these family violence intervention order conditions relating to animals, and these changes embed a contemporary understanding of coercive control into legislation.
We have also with this bill been able to modernise, change and make some reforms around family violence intervention orders to make them more effective and fair. A two-year default length for final orders provides victims with stability and reduces repeat court appearances. Importantly too, this bill responds to concerns raised by victim-survivors. When a child is listed as an affected family member and turns 18, they will now continue to be protected for the full duration of that order. This change ensures a stronger long-term protection and prevents distress by removing the need for a young person to reapply for an order the moment they become an adult.
As has been mentioned today in this place, women and children make up the majority of family violence victims in Victoria, and while family violence can affect anyone, it is women and children who are disproportionately harmed. For children exposed to family violence, it can lead to trauma, developmental challenges and long-term mental health impacts. This reform is going to also talk to some of the protections for children who experience family violence. A minimum age of 12 is now required for someone to be a respondent, aligning with the minimum age of criminal responsibility; children listed on a parent’s order, as I have said, will remain protected after turning 18; and courts can now issue those intervention orders even if alleged violence has occurred outside of Victoria.
I want to just speak briefly about stalking and non-family violence and address this, and I would like to reference and talk a little bit about some research that has recently come out. We know that stalking is a longstanding offence in Victoria, but the Victorian Law Reform Commission Stalking report did confirm that while the offence was broadly appropriate, there was some clarity needed. Recently Jesuit Social Services released the Adolescent Man Box survey. It was conducted in March and April this year, and they heard from over 1400 young people aged between 14 and 18 – boys, girls and non-binary teens. They wanted to actually assess and ask mainly teenage boys how they are expected to act and how those expectations shape their attitudes, their behaviours and their experiences, and it does paint a complex picture. We see some teenagers, and particularly boys, that have the pressure to be tough, to be strong. While there was some good news in the report and most young people were rejecting these outdated expectations, the survey did show that there was a significant minority of boys who continue to hold those rigid beliefs about what it means to be a man. Those beliefs have real consequences, and the findings were stark: 44 per cent of boys agreed they must always appear confident and 43 per cent agreed they should seem strong no matter what. Amongst girls support for those ideas was far lower, at just 15 per cent and 13 per cent respectively. But also there was a small but troubling amount of boys who reported endorsing violence-supporting attitudes, retaliating when being rejected or engaging in harmful behaviours such as bullying, physical violence or sexual harassment. Importantly, many of those boys who use abusive behaviour have also recently experienced abuse themselves. As the report puts it, those young men who personally endorse these beliefs are more likely to support attitudes that condone violence against women and sexual harassment and retaliating when rejected.
This goes to the issue of stalking. One of the central findings was the need to support boys to better understand and cope with rejection. One of the most consistent themes in masculinity research, including this study, is that profound fear of rejection shapes the behaviour of many teenage boys. From a young age boys are taught explicitly that they need to appear confident and hide their vulnerability, and nearly half the boys surveyed said that they feel pressure to feel strong even if they are struggling. So when rejection happens, as it does for every young person, it does not just hurt, it feels like a threat to their identity. That is where that dangerous crossover begins.
That fear of rejection becomes vulnerability – it becomes a personal failure – and instead of talking, processing and seeking support, some boys retreat, shut down and turn their distress to anger. They then can turn to more cohesive behaviours, and these behaviours are certainly early warning signs. Stalking becomes an attempt to regain control. It is not about love, it is about identity. Rejection feels like a crisis, and control becomes about coping.
In the adolescent context, though, I just need to make a point. Even with this research that has been released, it is important to remember that adolescents using violence are not the same as adults. Teenagers are still developing cognitively and emotionally. Their impulse control and emotional regulation and understanding of consequences are still forming, and unlike adults, adolescent boys are at much higher risk of currently being victims of family violence themselves. Many are experiencing and using aggression at the same time.
What is the antidote to that? In the report it talks about emotional literacy and healthy masculinities. When boys are given space to talk about rejection, express emotions openly, experience vulnerability without shame and understand boundaries and consent, the likelihood of them engaging in stalking or coercive behaviour drops dramatically. Supporting boys to cope with their emotions around rejection is one of the most proactive things we can do, and it reduces that harm now and reduces the risk of violence in adulthood. That is why that Adolescent Man Boxfinding really matters and why prevention must start early, and it is why each of those challenges highlighted in the report is a call to action.
Positive change is already happening, but we know there is more to do. We must build environments that do not just prevent harm but open the doors to better, healthier lives for all – and our boys. Victoria has made enormous progress in ending family violence and gendered violence, but it requires constant vigilance and adaption, and these reforms today are another step forward, making our laws clearer, our justice system fairer and then, therefore, our community safer.
Victoria must remain a state where all people, especially women and children, can live free of fear and harm. These reforms give Victorian survivors the protection they deserve, and we need to ensure perpetrators are held to account. I want to thank the minister, Minister Hutchins, for all the work that she has done in this space – her constant work – and I commend the bill to the house.
