Magistrates without an understanding of domestic violence put women at risk as they are unable to treat cases appropriately, a key ACT legal support service says.
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Domestic violence experts working at the coalface called for the ACT to introduce a victim-centred family violence court with a dedicated magistrate to improve consistency, at a Families ACT forum on Tuesday.
Women's Legal Centre executive director Elena Rosenman said the service would be extremely supportive of the specialised court as historically women could be placed at risk "both through the process and the outcome" when domestic violence matters and protection orders reached court.
"A specialised domestic violence court means these matters would be heard by someone with a sophisticated understanding of domestic violence, someone who is alert to red flags," she said.
Currently criminal charges relating to family violence are listed separately and heard each Tuesday in the ACT Magistrates Court as part of the Family Violence Intervention Program since 2011.
But Victims of Crime Commissioner John Hinchey said the court was not efficiently resourced for the specialist position, with the magistrate dealing with the family violence list already regularly called away for other duties.
"It has a compounding effect… that magistrate then has to set hearing dates for those other matters… it compromises the speciality that our family violence court is supposed to build," he said.
"That court is under a heavy workload and decisions around resourcing have to be made by the chief magistrate.
"This is something I would ask government to pay close attention to in future resourcing of the court."
In the ACT the family violence court only deals with criminal matters, but other jurisdictions, including South Australia, go further also hearing protection order applications.
In Victoria, the family violence magistrate can also deal with related bail applications, family law parenting orders, victim compensation and in some cases can order offenders into behavioural programs.
Domestic Violence Crisis Service executive director Mirjana Wilson said incorporating other matters into a specialised court would be worth considering for the ACT, particularly when trying to align bail and protection order conditions.
She said there would be benefits from a holistic approach to legal matters surrounding domestic violence, but was unsure if all measures should be dealt with by one court.
"It is a really complex issue and if there are people who can specialise in it there may be better outcomes for the victims," she said.
"We have specialist domestic violence services dealing with victims in the support phase... it would be great to see the same specialisation held up there as being necessary in the legal system."
Mr Hinchey said breaches of domestic violence protection orders should go before the specialist court, but initial hearings should be kept separate as the workload was already too heavy.
Ms Wilson said a dedicated domestic violence magistrate would allow the judiciary to develop a better understanding of victims and be more consistent with sentencing and protection orders.
"The criminal justice system is really about the perpetrator of the crime not the victims," she said.
"Having something specialised starts to shift focus to victim welfare space."
Ms Rosenman said the specialised court would "signify clearly that as a society we value the safety of women and their children".
She said specialised courts went hand-in-hand with specialised legal assistance services.
"Currently at the Centre we see many women who have been through the process of applying for a domestic violence order or related family law matters with no legal support while the perpetrator has been able to secure legal assistance," she said.
In other Australian jurisdictions magistrates and judicial officers dealing with family violence matters undergo specialised training, a measure Ms Wilson and Mr Hinchey would like to see introduced in the ACT.
