A report from Femili PNG and the Australian National University (ANU) shows that the issuing of protection orders by the Lae District Court is becoming more efficient. The data, was collected by Femili PNG and analysed by the ANU, covered almost three years from August 2014 to May 2018. The data showed that the average time taken to get an interim protection order (IPO) is 15.9 days. Almost one fifth (18%) were issued on the same day, and around half (51%) were issued within a week. The data also found that in Lae, the uptake of IPOs has been increasing, with more issued in 2017 than 2015 and 2016. It also showed that in 2017 a higher number of IPOs were converted to the longer-term protection orders. While the data shows that the process of issuing protection orders in Lae is improving, more research is needed to understand how effective they are in improving the safety of the survivors.
