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ABC News
ABC News
National

Tasmania's police family violence orders are supposed to keep victims safe. But experts say they're backfiring on women

When Anna called Tasmania Police to report an assault, she thought they'd protect her. Instead, they took out a family violence order against her. (ABC News: Luke Bowden)

When Anna* called police to report that she'd been assaulted by her partner one afternoon in late 2021, all she wanted was for them to pull him into line — to "tell him off".

He'd grabbed her and crushed her into a door frame at his home in southern Tasmania during an argument about money, she said, apparently having misinterpreted her "freeze" response as defiance, aggression.

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