Intervention Orders in Victoria: FVIO and PSIO Explained

Victoria does not use the term AVO: family violence is addressed through a Family Violence Intervention Order (FVIO) under the Family Violence Protection Act 2008, while violence between people who are not family members is addressed through a separate Personal Safety Intervention Order (PSIO) under its own 2010 Act.

If you are in immediate danger, call 000. For confidential domestic, family or sexual violence counselling and support, contact 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732, available 24 hours a day.

What Victoria Calls It

AVO is New South Wales terminology, but it is widely searched across Australia as a generic term, including by Victorians. In Victoria, the correct terms are FVIO, or intervention order, for family violence, and PSIO for personal safety matters between people who are not family members. See the AVO and protection orders overview for how every state's terminology compares.

Two Separate Acts, Two Different Tests

Victoria structures this area differently from NSW. Rather than two order types under one Act, it uses two entirely separate Acts: the Family Violence Protection Act 2008 for an FVIO, and the Personal Safety Intervention Orders Act 2010 for a PSIO. The PSIO Act's own final order test, at section 61(1)(b), excludes family members by definition, so a PSIO cannot be used as a fallback where an FVIO application involving family members has failed.

The tests themselves also differ in a way worth noting explicitly. An FVIO final order under section 74(1) requires the court to be satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, that the respondent has committed family violence against the affected family member and is likely to continue to do so or do so again. This is a retrospective and objective test: the protected person does not have to prove they personally feared the respondent, only that violence occurred and repetition is likely. A PSIO final order under section 61(1) requires the court to be satisfied of one of two alternative limbs: either that the respondent committed prohibited behaviour (assault, sexual assault, harassment, property damage or interference, or a serious threat) that is likely to continue or recur and would cause a reasonable person to fear for their safety, or that the respondent stalked the affected person and is likely to do so again, a limb with no separate fear requirement. The court must also be satisfied the parties are not family members and that the order is appropriate in all the circumstances. So the objective reasonable person fear element, which an FVIO application does not need at all, applies to the prohibited-behaviour pathway but not to the stalking pathway.

What Counts as Family Violence

Family violence is defined in section 5 of the Family Violence Protection Act by behaviour rather than relationship: physical, sexual, emotional, psychological or economic abuse, threatening or coercive behaviour, or otherwise controlling or dominating behaviour that causes fear, plus exposing a child to that behaviour. A recent amending Act (No. 1/2026) expanded the included conduct list at section 5(2): a new paragraph (bb) makes stalking a family member explicit family violence; new paragraphs (da) and (db) cover misusing systems, processes or service providers, including court processes, to coerce or control a family member, or influencing service providers' decisions to the same end; and paragraphs (e) and (f) broaden the existing animal-related conduct to include threats to sell, abandon or rehome an animal as a means of control or coercion. This is a live, recent change worth knowing if relying on older summaries of what counts.

Who Can Apply for an FVIO

Section 45 allows a police officer, the affected family member, or any other adult with the affected family member's written consent to apply. For a child affected family member, an application can be made by a parent, another person with parental written consent or leave of the court, or the child themselves if they are 14 or older and have leave of the court. A guardian, or with leave another person, can apply where the affected family member has a guardian.

Duration: Indefinite Unless the Court Says Otherwise

Both Acts use the same structure, and it is the opposite of NSW's approach. Under section 99(b) of the Family Violence Protection Act, if no period is specified in the FVIO, it remains in force until it is revoked by the court or set aside on appeal, meaning the default is indefinite rather than a fixed term. Section 98 caps any specified period at 12 months if the respondent is a child, unless there are exceptional circumstances. Section 79 of the Personal Safety Intervention Orders Act uses the identical structure for a PSIO. Anyone comparing this to NSW, where an unspecified ADVO defaults to a fixed 2 years and an unspecified APVO defaults to 12 months, should note the two states give opposite answers to the same question.

Breach Penalties

The two Acts carry a genuinely asymmetric penalty structure:

• FVIO base breach, section 123, contravening a served or explained FVIO: Level 7 imprisonment, up to 2 years, or a Level 7 fine, up to 240 penalty units, or both. At the current $209.10 per unit rate, that is up to $50,184.

• FVIO breach with intent to cause harm or fear, section 123A: Level 6 imprisonment, up to 5 years, or a Level 6 fine, up to 600 penalty units, or both, up to $125,460.

• FVIO persistent contravention of a safety notice or intervention order, section 125A: the same maximum as section 123A, up to 5 years or 600 penalty units.

• PSIO breach, section 100: only one tier exists, Level 7 imprisonment (2 years) or a Level 7 fine (240 penalty units), or both, up to $50,184. There is no PSIO equivalent of the FVIO intent or persistent contravention tiers.

Sections 123(2A) to (2B) and 123A(3) to (4) give FVIO breach extraterritorial reach: it does not matter whether the contravening conduct occurred outside Victoria, so long as the protected person was in Victoria at the time, or vice versa.

On the penalty unit value itself: use $209.10, the figure set by the Victorian Treasurer under section 6 of the Monetary Units Act 2004 for the financial year commencing 1 July 2026. Victoria Legal Aid's own penalty units page still showed $203.51, the prior financial year's rate, at the time this article was researched, and had simply not yet been updated for the new financial year. Do not use $203.51 for a current breach calculation.

Firearms and Weapons: A Court Decision, Not Automatic

Victoria's mechanism is discretionary, unlike NSW's automatic statutory suspension and revocation. Section 94 of the Family Violence Protection Act requires the court to enquire whether the respondent holds a firearms authority, weapons approval or weapons exemption whenever it intends to make an FVIO. Section 95 then allows, but does not require, the court to include a condition suspending that authority or approval in an interim order, or cancelling or revoking it in a final order. The Personal Safety Intervention Orders Act's own firearms provisions were not confirmed to the same level of detail in researching this article; readers relying on firearms consequences under a PSIO specifically should check the current PSIO Act text directly. See firearms licensing in Victoria and the general firearms licence framework across Australia.

Interstate Recognition

Section 96(1)(da) of the Family Violence Protection Act requires the court's explanation of a final FVIO to the parties to cover that the order may be enforced interstate under the National Domestic Violence Order Scheme. In practice this means an FVIO made from 25 November 2017 onward is automatically enforceable anywhere in Australia. A PSIO is a personal, non-family order and is not automatically recognised interstate; it generally needs to be separately registered in the state or territory where enforcement is needed.

Recording as Evidence

A recording made during an incident, or of a threat, can be relevant to an FVIO or PSIO application. Whether making it was lawful depends on Victoria's own surveillance devices consent law, separate from the intervention order framework; see Australia's recording laws by state before relying on a recording as evidence.

Related Victorian and Family Law Resources

An FVIO can intersect with parenting arrangements after separation; see parenting orders in Australia and how the family court process works. Where the parties are or were in a de facto relationship, see de facto relationships in Australia. A protected person may also have grounds to end a residential tenancy early because of family violence; see breaking a lease in Australia.

This article provides general legal information about intervention orders in Victoria, current as of August 2026. It does not address every procedural detail of an individual case. For advice on a specific situation, consult a legal practitioner admitted in Victoria, or contact Victoria Legal Aid or a community legal centre.