20-05-2025
Mandatory sentencing reinstated for some DVO breaches in NT after bill passes parliament
Perpetrators who threaten or cause harm while breaching a domestic violence order (DVO) will receive a mandatory minimum sentence, under new laws brought forward by the Northern Territory government.
The Country Liberal Party (CLP) used its majority in the NT's only parliamentary chamber to legislate the changes on Tuesday, despite widespread disapproval from the domestic, family and sexual violence (DFSV) sector.
The legislation restores a mandatory minimum sentence provision repealed by the former Labor government in 2022.
A CLP government spokesperson said under the new laws, mandatory sentencing would apply where an offender "breaches their DVO for the first time and threatens or causes harm".
"However, it may not apply in circumstances where a person has breached a DVO for the first time and has not caused or threatened to cause harm," they said.
Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby said mandatory sentencing would also apply for repeat DVO breaches where harm was not threatened or caused.
She said prison sentences for the breaches would be determined by the judiciary.
"It's set for the courts as a minimum of a term of imprisonment," Ms Boothby said of the changes.
"That will be up to the courts to decide what [the term of imprisonment] is."
The legislation also expands the maximum sentence for a DVO breach from two to five years, and enhances victims' access to information about offenders.
It is likely to see an increase to the NT's record prison population, which has risen by more than 500 since the CLP was elected last August.
The bill was introduced to parliament in March amid criticism from several women's legal services, and subsequently referred to the NT's Legislative Scrutiny Committee.
The committee received 21 submissions, all of which opposed the reintroduction of mandatory sentencing and claimed there was no evidence to suggest it prevented domestic violence-related offences.
Another concern highlighted was the misidentification of Indigenous women as perpetrators in violent relationships.
Domestic violence survivor Holly Supple-Gurruwiwi said Aboriginal women who were not "the perfect victim" often received reciprocal DVOs along with their partners.
"That then allows the victim of domestic violence to become further victimised, and even criminalised," she said.
"The mandatory sentencing [for DVO breaches] is going to see the victim, the person most in need of protection, in jail, which seems to be the opposite of what we're trying to achieve."
The NT has the highest rates of domestic, sexual and family violence in Australia, with a rate of intimate partner homicide seven times that of the national average.
On Tuesday, Labor Opposition Leader Selena Uibo announced she had begun drafting a private member's bill to legalise voluntary assisted dying (VAD) in the NT.
The NT was the first jurisdiction in the world to legalise VAD in 1995, but the law was overruled by the federal government one year later.
The territory's right to legislate its own VAD laws was reinstated by the federal government in 2022.
In July 2024, an expert advisory panel provided the former NT Labor government with a VAD framework report after undertaking months of community consultation.
It made 22 recommendations, including that the NT should implement legislation "broadly consistent" with laws in other Australian states and territories.
Despite that, the CLP last week referred the VAD issue to a parliamentary committee for further consultation.
The referral followed pressure from independent MLA Justine Davis, who urged the government to take progressive action on VAD.
Ms Uibo said enough consultation had already taken place on VAD and the CLP was kicking "the can down the road".
"We're ... starting the process to draft a bill that will provide dignity and choice for people who are suffering in the NT," she said of her private member's bill.
VAD is legal in all Australian jurisdictions except the NT.
