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.
"If a court does not exercise that discretion, it will be mandatory for the court to apply other protections, such as the use of video links or screens in the court room."
Direct cross-examination of family violence victims is relatively rare, with a study finding there were 173 hearings in the federal family law courts between 2015 and 2017 where one or both parties were self-represented.
"This bill will provide confidence to victims that they will be protected during cross-examination, and is a further demonstration of the Turnbull government's commitment to protecting families affected by family violence" Mr Porter said.
The amended laws will be introduced into Parliament on Thursday.
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