Thousands of family violence intervention orders in Victoria have been issued with crucial words missing, with the state government planning to rush a bill through parliament to ensure the orders are complied with.
The attorney general, Sonya Kilkenny, on Monday announced the discovery of a “printing error” affecting family violence intervention orders made in the magistrates and children’s courts between 15 November 2024 and 5 March 2025.
She said the complete wording of the courts’ orders was missing in printed copies of the orders for service on respondents. The missing words were: “the court orders that the respondent must not”.
About 11,815 magistrates court orders and 685 children’s court orders were affected by the printing error, a source told Guardian Australia.
Kilkenny said the orders made during the period were valid and both Victoria police and the Department of Justice and Community Safety had assured her the error “has not affected anyone’s safety to date”.
But the government will on Tuesday introduce the family violence protection amendment bill 2025 to parliament to ensure the printing error does not affect the protection or enforceability of the orders.
“The Victorian government is acting out of an abundance of caution to make sure that respondents continue to comply with those orders, and that perpetrators are held to account,” Kilkenny said.
“My focus is ensuring that an error like this is never repeated and stamping out the unacceptable failures that allowed it to occur. All options are on the table to ensure this never happens again.”
In a statement, the magistrates court said the issue includes interim, final, extension and variations of family violence intervention orders.
“The order made by the court is valid, but any copy of the order printed between these dates contains the error and is not a true copy of the order,” it reads.
“We acknowledge this may cause concern and apologise for the error. The safety of affected family members and clarity for all court participants has been our priority as we worked to rectify this issue.”
The court said any family member or respondent affected by an order who would like a complete copy of their order should contact the MCV Service Centre.
The government intends to fast-track the bill through both Houses of Parliament on Tuesday, though in the upper house they will require the support of either the Coalition or seven crossbenchers for it to pass.
A spokesperson for Victoria police said the issue “does not affect the validity of orders issued by the court nor the ability of Victoria police to continue to enforce intervention orders and importantly hold perpetrators of family violence to account”.
“Victoria police is working closely with Court Services Victoria to ensure that court proceedings involving victims of family violence are not impacted,” they said.
