In Tasmania, family violence is violent, abusive and controlling behaviour committed by a person against their current or former spouse or intimate partner.
The Family Violence Act 2004 (Tas) defines family violence in Tasmania.
Relationships
Under the Act, family violence occurs where violence is committed directly or indirectly against a person's spouse, partner or ex-partner
This applies to both adult relationships, and relationships between two people where one or both are aged 16 to 18 years.
Conduct
Under the Act, family violence includes a range of violent behaviours, referred to as 'conduct', including:
- assault, including sexual assault
- threats
- coercion
- intimidation
- verbal abuse
- abduction
- stalking
- bullying
- an attempt to commit any of these behaviours
Family violence is more than physical violence and also includes:
- economic abuse
- emotional abuse
- intimidation
- breaching any existing orders relating to family violence
- property damage
Using/perpetrating family violence
On this site, there are several verbs for describing the conduct of family violence; either that a person uses, conducts or perpetrates family violence.
Perpetrate is a more accurate description of the conduct, conducts is a lesser used term, and the more common expression is to use family violence.