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The campaign of feminists to have domestic violence formally acknowledged as a key issue affecting Australian women succeeded in the early 1980s when governments began developing policy seeking to address the problem. Far from simply adopting feminist gendered understandings of domestic violence, however, the development of contemporary policy responses to this issue has been influenced by a number of competing discourses about the problem, its causes, and possible solutions. Drawing on Bacchi's policy analysis approach, the authors compare the discursive constructions of domestic violence inherent in how the issue is named, framed, and defined across contemporary Australian policy documents.

The intersection of public policy and legislation addressing children and domestic violence is fraught with complexity. Domestic violence responses, child protection responses and family law responses, all potentially collide where a child witnesses or experiences domestic violence. These responses not only operate with different purposes and assumptions, but also construct the problem of domestic violence in different ways. This article is based on the preliminary findings of a larger research project exploring the history of domestic violence policy in Australia. Drawing on Bacchi's (1999) `what's the problem represented to be?' approach we consider how children's experiences of domestic violence are named and framed in Australian and New Zealand law and policy. In identifying and making apparent these particular understandings, and considering the implications of these meanings for current responses, we seek to open up debates on the future direction of domestic violence policy and legislation concerned with children.