Overview

• From January, officers will be able to issue 12‑month police protection directions without court oversight or a victim’s consent.
• Parliament also approved a GPS tracking pilot for high‑risk cases, with 150 devices available for courts to order by year’s end.
• Ministers said the changes give police faster tools to protect victims and lift productivity as domestic‑violence callouts rise about 20% year on year.
• Advocacy groups cited evidence of frequent misidentification of victims as offenders and warned the new powers could enable systems abuse if safeguards lag.
• Labor MPs criticised the lack of oversight yet voted in favour after their proposed safeguards failed, and a statutory review is scheduled in two years.