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Domestic violence laws in Australia

Appendix to Part 2: penalties for breach of domestic violence protection orders

Jurisdiction Penalty
ACT The maximum penalty is a fine of 500 penalty units ($50,000) or a term of imprisonment of 5 years or both: s 90 of the ACT Act.
NSW The maximum penalty is a term of imprisonment of 2 years or 50 penalty units ($5,500) or both: s 14 of the NSW Act.63
QLD A first offence carries a maximum penalty of 1 year imprisonment or 40 penalty units ($4,000), with 2 years for third and subsequent offences within a period of 3 years: s 80 of the Queensland Act.
NT The maximum penalty is 400 penalty units ($44,000) or a term of imprisonment of 2 years: ss 121-2 of the NT Act.64
WA The maximum penalty is a $6000  fine or a term of imprisonment of 2 years or both: s 61 of the WA Act.
SA The maximum term of imprisonment is 2 years: s 15 of the SA Act.65
VIC The maximum penalty is a term of imprisonment of 2 years or 240 penalty units ($27,220.80) or both: ss 123 and 37 of the Victorian Act.
TAS The Tasmanian Act provides for a tier of penalties from a maximum of 1 year or a fine of 20 penalty units ($2,400) for a first offence, to 5 years for a fourth or subsequent offence: see s 35 of the Tasmanian Act.
NZ The maximum penalty is a fine of $5,000 or 6 months  imprisonment, increasing to 2 years on the third offence in a period of 2 years: s 49.66
  1. The NSW Act provides that, unless a court orders otherwise, a person who is convicted of breaching an order must be sentenced to a term of imprisonment if the breach involved violence against a person (s 14(4)). This rule does not apply if the person being sentenced was under 18 at the time of the offence.
  2. The NT Act includes a presumption that if a person has previously been found guilty of contravening a DVO, a court must record a conviction and sentence the person to at least 7 days imprisonment: s 121(2). The rule does not apply if the contravention did not result in harm to a protected person, and the court is satisfied that it would not be appropriate to record a conviction in the circumstances of a particular case: s 121(3).
  3. The SA Act does not prescribe a financial penalty for contravention of an order. A court may impose a fine in substitution for a sentence of imprisonment if the court thinks that a good reason exists for departing from the penalty prescribed by the Act: see Criminal Law (Sentencing) Act 1988 (SA), s 18.
  4. Under the Sentencing Act 2002 (NZ), a court may sentence an offender to pay a fine instead of imposing a sentence of imprisonment if an enactment provides for a sentence of imprisonment but does not prescribe a fine: s 39.

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