Not Now, Not Ever

Did you know that the Not Now, Not Ever report into family and domestic violence recommended new legislative provisions for information sharing between government and non-government agencies?  These changes are designed to improve the safety of victims of domestic and family violence and better hold perpetrators to account (recommendation 78).

Information sharing amendments to the Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act 2012 were passed by the Queensland Parliament in October 2016 and commenced on 30 May 2017 and apply state-wide.

To support practitioners in the field of domestic and family violence, such as specialist services, police and doctors, to appropriately share information under the new legislative provisions, Domestic and Family Violence Information Sharing Guidelines  have been developed. These Guidelines provide information about what is permitted under the legislation, who is allowed to share information, what circumstances allow information sharing without consent to ensure the safety of victims and children, and what information can be shared.

I really hope this is a giant step forward in the ability of service providers to effectively support the victims of family and domestic violence.