Family Violence Criminal Charges in Melbourne

Written by Justin Chua, Principal Solicitor, Chua Tan Associates. Last reviewed 17 October 2026. General information about Victorian law, not legal advice.

This page is for people in Melbourne and across Victoria who have been arrested, charged or questioned after an incident with a husband, wife, de facto or other partner. Family violence is treated very seriously by police and the courts. A criminal charge, an intervention order and bail conditions often arrive together, and decisions in the first few days can shape where you live, contact with your children, your job and your visa.

How an argument becomes a criminal case

Many of the matters we see start as an argument at home between spouses or de facto partners, often over money, children, family members or a separation. A neighbour, a child or one of the partners calls 000. Police must investigate every report of family violence. What happens next depends on what police see and are told, any injuries, damage to property, messages, earlier incidents and whether children were present.

Family violence under the Family Violence Protection Act 2008 (Vic) is much wider than physical violence. It includes threats, emotional and psychological abuse, economic abuse, damaging property and behaviour that controls or dominates a family member or causes them to fear for their safety. Amendments passed in 2026, commencing in stages during the year, expressly add stalking, systems abuse and mistreating animals.

What police do at a family violence call

1. Risk assessment. Police assess the risk to the people present, including children.
2. Holding powers. Police can direct a person to stay somewhere or detain them for up to 6 hours (or 10 hours if a court extends it) so they can apply for, or serve, an order or safety notice.
3. Family violence safety notice. Police can issue a safety notice on the spot where protection is needed, even if the protected person does not want one. Conditions can include no contact, staying away from the protected person and places they go, and not damaging property. Police can require a person to leave the home. The notice works like a short-term intervention order and sets a court date, generally within 14 days.
4. Intervention order application. Police can apply to the Magistrates’ Court for a family violence intervention order on behalf of the affected family member and any children, and they run that application in court.
5. Firearms. Police can search for and take firearms and other weapons.
6. Arrest, interview and charge. If police believe an offence was committed, they may arrest you, seek an interview and charge you. You can speak to a lawyer and decline to answer questions. See Police Interviews: Your Rights.

The range of charges

• Unlawful assault (Summary Offences Act 1966 s 23): 3 months’ imprisonment or 15 penalty units. Common assault at common law is also often charged.
• Intentionally or recklessly causing injury (Crimes Act 1958 s 18): 10 years (intentional) or 5 years (reckless). See Causing Injury.
• Non-fatal strangulation of a family member (ss 34AD and 34AE, since 13 October 2024): 10 years where injury is intended and caused; 5 years where no injury needs to be proved.
• Threats to kill (s 20): 10 years. Threats to inflict serious injury (s 21): 5 years.
• Criminal damage (s 197), for example a broken phone, door or car: 10 years.
• Stalking (s 21A): 10 years. See Stalking.
• Breaching an intervention order or safety notice (Family Violence Protection Act 2008 ss 37, 123): 2 years and/or 240 penalty units; up to 5 years for breaches intended to cause harm or fear (s 123A) or persistent breaches (s 125A). See Breach of an Intervention Order.
• Coercive control: the Justice Legislation Amendment (Family Violence, Coercive Control, Good Character, Risk Assessment and Other Matters) Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 22 September 2026. The Government has said the offence will apply to intimate partners and carry up to 10 years. Its start date was not confirmed when this page was written, and conduct before it starts cannot be charged as coercive control.
• Sexual offences such as rape (s 38, 25 years) and sexual assault (s 40, 10 years) apply within marriages and relationships in the same way as anywhere else. For conduct from 30 July 2023, consent must be actively checked.

A Victorian penalty unit is $209.10 in 2026-27. Maximum penalties are rarely imposed. In the Magistrates’ Court from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2023, Sentencing Advisory Council data (SACStat) shows imprisonment was the largest single outcome category for threats to kill (24.9% of 4,015 cases), while an adjourned undertaking was the largest for criminal damage (26% of 14,362 cases). Many family violence matters are heard at one of the Magistrates’ Court’s Specialist Family Violence Courts.

The intervention order and the criminal case run side by side

The intervention order is a civil application; the charges are a criminal prosecution. They usually move through the Magistrates’ Court on separate tracks, sometimes on the same day. What you say or agree to in one can affect the other. An intervention order can often be resolved by consent without admitting the allegations, but its conditions bind you once served, and the protected person cannot give you permission to break them. Once the 2026 reforms commence, courts will also be able to extend or vary an intervention order at the end of related criminal proceedings. See Intervention Orders.

Bail in family violence matters

Under the Bail Act 1977 (Vic), the bail decision maker must ask the prosecutor whether an intervention order, safety notice or interstate domestic violence order is in place. If the charge is a family violence offence, they must assess whether releasing you would create a risk of further family violence, and whether conditions or an intervention order could reduce that risk (s 5AAAA). The 2025 bail reforms also made community safety central to every bail decision.

For some family violence charges, you must show a compelling reason why bail should be granted (Schedule 2). These include threats to kill that are also a family violence offence; breaching a safety notice or intervention order involving violence or threats, where there is a violence conviction in the last 10 years or other violence against the protected person; persistent breaches under s 125A; and some stalking charges. Stricter tests can apply to very serious charges, or where offending is alleged while already on bail. If bail is refused, you are remanded in custody until the case ends or bail is later granted.

Typical bail conditions include no contact with the other person (directly or through others), not attending the family home, reporting to police and not drinking alcohol. Contact with children may need to be worked out alongside any intervention order and family law arrangements. See Bail Applications.

Other consequences

• Family law. Family violence and family violence orders are relevant to children’s best interests in parenting cases, and since 10 June 2025 the economic effect of family violence can be considered in property settlements. Separate family law advice is often needed.
• Firearms. A final intervention order makes you a prohibited person for the life of the order plus five years.
• Employment and checks. Findings of guilt can appear on police checks and may affect Working with Children Checks and roles needing a clearance or licence.
• Sentencing. Once in force, the 2026 reforms remove good character as a mitigating factor. Whether this applies to your matter depends on its start date and transitional rules.

Visas

Partner visa applicants and holders who are charged

Under the Minister’s direction for character decisions (Direction No. 110), family violence is a primary consideration and is viewed very seriously, even without a conviction. Direction No. 123 replaces it from 31 October 2026 and is reported to treat family violence at least as seriously. A prison sentence of 12 months or more, including shorter terms adding up to 12 months, means failing the character test under Migration Act 1958 (Cth) s 501. Cancellation is mandatory if a single sentence of 12 months or more is being served full-time in custody (s 501(3A)). How the charges are resolved can matter as much for the visa as for the criminal record.

Partner visa applicants who experience family violence

Separately, under the Migration Regulations’ family violence provisions, a partner visa applicant whose genuine relationship has ended may still be eligible if the former sponsor committed family violence during the relationship. Since 1 July 2024 this also covers Prospective Marriage visa holders who did not marry their sponsor.

Student visa holders

A student visa can be cancelled on discretionary grounds, such as a risk to the health, safety or good order of the community or a breach of a visa condition. Bail conditions or custody can also affect course attendance (condition 8202). See Criminal Charges for International Students.

Our firm includes two Law Institute of Victoria Accredited Specialists in Immigration Law, Kin Wee Chua and Chit Thian Chua, so the criminal strategy and the visa position are considered together.

Practical steps

• Follow every condition. If a safety notice, intervention order or bail condition bans contact, do not contact the other person, including by text, social media or through family or friends, even if they contact you first.
• Get advice before any police interview. Early statements are often the central evidence.
• Preserve messages and records. Keep texts, call logs, emails, photos and other material, unaltered. Do not delete anything.
• Arrange somewhere safe to stay if you are excluded from the home, and collect belongings only in the way the conditions allow.
• Bring your paperwork to your first appointment: charge sheet, bail papers, safety notice or order, and visa details.

How we examine a case like this

• What the evidence actually shows, including body-worn camera footage, 000 recordings, photographs and medical records.
• Whether the right charge has been laid, for example injury versus no injury, or reckless versus intentional.
• Self-defence, including where you say you were the person being harmed, and whether police may have misidentified who the primary aggressor was.
• Whether a breach charge is supported by proper service and the exact wording of the conditions.
• Bail conditions that protect everyone’s safety while allowing you to work and, where appropriate, arrange contact with children.
• Steps such as counselling or a behaviour change program, presented properly if the matter proceeds to sentence.

Justin Chua, our Principal Solicitor, appears as a solicitor advocate and advises in English and Mandarin. Our firm, Chua Tan Associates, has practised in Melbourne since 1990 and regularly acts in family violence intervention order matters and related parenting and property issues. Priority consultations are available for urgent matters. Book a consultation.

Chinese-language versions of this page: 简体中文 ｜ 繁體中文.

Frequently asked questions

My partner does not want to press charges. Will the case be dropped?

Not necessarily. In Victoria the decision to charge and prosecute belongs to police, not the other person.

Can I go home after being charged?

Only if your safety notice, intervention order and bail conditions allow it. Exclusion from the home is a common condition. Breaching it is a separate offence and can lead to bail being revoked.

My partner messaged me first. Can I reply?

Not if your conditions prohibit contact; the protected person cannot give permission to breach them. If contact is needed, for example about children, ask a lawyer about varying the conditions.

Is it harder to get bail for family violence charges?

It can be, because of the family violence risk assessment and, for some charges, the compelling reason test. Well-prepared accommodation and conditions often matter.

Will a family violence charge affect my partner visa?

It can, even without a conviction, and a sentence of 12 months or more means failing the character test. Get migration advice before resolving the charges.

Will this affect my family law case?

It may, for both parenting and property matters (see above). Plan the criminal and family law cases together.

Penalties and procedures on this page reflect Victorian and Commonwealth law as at the review date shown above. Maximum penalties are rarely imposed; the sentence in any case depends on its own facts.