People who hit their partners will no longer be allowed to directly cross-examine them in court, under proposed changes to family violence laws.
The Family Law Act will be amended to ban alleged attackers cross-examining their victims in specific and serious circumstances, and require courts to use video links in others.
Directly facing a perpetrator or alleged perpetrator of family violence compounds the trauma of that violence and can also impact on the ability of a victim to give clear evidence in legal proceedings," Attorney-General Christian Porter said.
The laws will be changed to protect victims from re-traumatisation, and includes circumstances where there are convictions, charges or final family violence orders in place between the parties.
"Courts will also have discretion to prohibit direct cross-examination in cases where family violence is alleged," Mr Porter said.
