Apprehended Violence Orders
Whether you need protection or are defending an application, the consequences are real and worth understanding.
Whether you need protection or are defending an application, the consequences are real and worth understanding.
An apprehended violence order is a civil protective order made under the Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007. It is not a criminal charge, it is not a finding that you committed an offence, and a final AVO does not appear on your criminal record or a standard police check. It is decided on the balance of probabilities, not the criminal standard.
That said, treating it as "just a piece of paper" is a serious mistake. The consequences that follow an AVO are real, immediate and in some cases last a decade. And breaching one is a criminal offence, which will appear on your record.
There are two kinds. An ADVO applies where the parties are or were in a domestic relationship — which is broader than partners, and includes relatives, housemates, carers, and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, extended family and kin. An APVO applies where there is no domestic relationship: neighbours, co-workers, former friends. ADVOs made since late 2017 are enforceable across Australia without needing to be registered anywhere else.
Police can apply for a provisional order urgently, without you being present, and in defined situations the law requires them to. It becomes enforceable once it is served on you and runs until your first court date. An interim order is then usually made by the court to cover any adjournment, and a final order is made after a hearing, by consent, or in your absence if you were properly served.
A person needing protection can also apply privately. Where police apply, the police prosecutor runs the case and the protected person does not need their own lawyer.
At the first mention you will be asked whether you consent, consent without admissions, want time for legal advice, or oppose the application. An adjournment for advice is usually granted — take it.
Every AVO carries mandatory conditions imposed by statute. You must not assault, threaten, stalk, harass or intimidate the protected person, or anyone they are in a domestic relationship with, and you must not damage their property or harm their animals. Those conditions cannot be negotiated away.
Additional conditions are common: no contact except through a lawyer, staying a specified distance from where the person lives, works or goes to school, exclusion from a home you may have been living in, and no approaching within twelve hours of drinking.
Consent by the protected person is not a defence to a breach. If they invite you over and you go, you have breached the order. Where contact is permitted only "as agreed in writing", it needs to actually be in writing.
Many AVO matters resolve by the defendant consenting without admissions — agreeing to be bound by the order while not accepting that the allegations are true. The court makes no findings of fact, no evidence is heard, and you avoid a hearing, cross-examination and cost. It is not a plea of guilty and it is not an admission in any related criminal proceedings.
But understand what it does not avoid. The order has exactly the same legal force as one made after a contested hearing, and every consequence follows in full. Whether it is the right course depends on the conditions being sought, your licences, your work, and any family law proceedings on foot. It is a decision worth ten minutes of advice before you make it at the bar table.
Firearms. An interim AVO automatically suspends a firearms licence. A final AVO automatically revokes it, and firearms and the licence must be surrendered. Because a licence must be refused to anyone who has been subject to an AVO in the past ten years, a final order effectively means a ten-year wait before you can reapply. Courts have made clear they will not shape or vary an AVO to preserve a licence.
Work. Because there is no criminal record entry, an AVO generally does not appear on a standard national police check. A Working With Children Check is usually unaffected, though an AVO can be considered in some cases. Security licensing and some regulated occupations are a different matter, and an exclusion condition can remove you from a home and from the lease.
Family law. Where a parenting order and an AVO genuinely conflict, the parenting order prevails to the extent of the inconsistency. Standard AVOs contain carve-outs allowing contact about children as ordered by a court or agreed in writing, so the two are usually able to operate together — but the conditions need to be drafted to fit your actual changeover arrangements, or an ordinary handover becomes an accidental breach.
Breach. The basic offence of knowingly contravening an AVO carries up to two years imprisonment, and where the breach involved an act of violence the court must impose imprisonment unless it orders otherwise. Recent amendments added aggravated offences for contravening an ADVO intending to cause harm or fear, and for persistent contravention, carrying maximums of three and five years.
No. An AVO is a civil protective order, not a criminal charge, and a final AVO does not appear on your criminal record or a standard national police check. It is not a finding that you committed an offence. But breaching an AVO is a criminal offence, and a conviction for a breach will be recorded.
Yes. Police can apply for a provisional order without you being present, and in some situations the law requires them to apply. It becomes enforceable once served on you and will usually be converted into an interim order at your first court date. Obey it exactly while you get advice, because breaching it is a criminal offence even if you dispute every allegation in it.
Consenting without admissions ends the matter quickly, avoids a hearing and cross-examination, and involves no findings of fact against you. But the order has the same force as one made after a hearing, and consequences such as firearms revocation or exclusion from your home apply in full. Whether it is the right course depends on the conditions sought, your licences, your work and any parenting proceedings, so get advice before you agree at court.
An interim AVO automatically suspends it and a final AVO automatically revokes it, with firearms and the licence to be surrendered to police. Because a licence must be refused to anyone subject to an AVO in the last ten years, a final order effectively means a ten-year wait before reapplying. Courts have held they will not tailor or vary an AVO for the purpose of preserving a licence.
If the two genuinely conflict, the parenting order prevails to the extent of the inconsistency. Standard AVOs also contain exceptions permitting contact about children as ordered by a court or agreed in writing, so in most cases both can operate together. The conditions need to be drafted to match your actual arrangements, because otherwise a routine changeover can create a real risk of an accidental breach.
You are never obliged to respond, and replying does not cost you the protection of the order — the obligations sit with the defendant, not with you. Keep the messages, record dates and times, and report them to police, who decide whether to charge a breach. Persistent contact of this kind can now support the aggravated breach offences, which carry substantially higher maximum penalties. If it continues you can also ask the court to vary or extend the order.
Send a short enquiry and we will come back to you, usually the same business day. This is a free initial enquiry so we can work out whether we are able to assist you. It is not legal advice, and there is no obligation either way.
This page is general information about the law in New South Wales. It is not legal advice and does not take account of your circumstances. The law changes, and how it applies depends on the facts of your matter. Please contact us so we can work out whether we are able to assist you.