This week Victoria has passed a motion that will consider animal abuse part of family violence. This means new policies will be added to consider pets in abusive households to have more protection under the law. Animals play a central part in a family’s household, some victims are reluctant to leave because of the fear their pets will be harmed. There is growing research linking the animal abuse to family violence as animal cruelty occurs when family violence is also present. Associate Professor Kristin Diemer from Melbourne University joined us earlier to speak more about this new motion passed by the Victorian government.