So, the first hearing will just be a mention. The Court will assess a) if the parties were in a domestic relationship as defined by the Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act 2012, and b) if the grounds given for the DVO actually constitute domestic violence. It doesn't make any findings about the evidence or make a final order at the first mention, but the Court will ask what you would like to do. You have a few options available to you.
The first option is to consent to the order without admissions. Basically, this means that you'll agree to the order that your ex is seeking, but that doesn't mean you've admitted guilt to the allegations made against you. The pros are that it's cheap and easy to do, and they have very limited impact on future proceedings for parenting orders. The cons are that it make employment difficult if your line of work is in the police or requires security clearance of some description, and if you breach the order and are convicted accordingly, you will likely end up with a criminal record.
The second option is to contest the order. This means you'll seek to defend the order at trial, where the evidence will be tested. The pros are that there is a significant period of time between the mention and the trial date, which is a period you can use to a) sort out the parenting matter; b) see if the other party will file a discontinuance for the DVO application; and failing that, c) consent without admissions at a later date. The major con is that if you do end up having the matter heard at trial, and an order is made against you, then you will not only have a DVO, you will also have a finding from a Court of law that you have committed an act of domestic violence against the other person (as this finding forms part of the requirement for a final DVO to be ordered). The Courts that hear parenting matters can ignore a DVO consented to without admissions easily enough, but it's less likely to ignore a finding from a Court that violence has occurred.
There are also variations of the above options. For example, you can agree to consent without admissions conditional on the other parent agreeing to remove the child as a protected person. If they don't agree to remove the child as a protected person, you can contest the matter and then use the time leading up to trial to try and sort out the parenting matter and see if the other party will discontinue proceedings voluntarily. The advantage here is that you can also consent without admissions at any time leading up to, and on the day of, trial.
Another option is to offer to enter into undertakings with the Court, which is basically a promise not to commit any acts of domestic violence against the other party. Breaches of undertakings do not result in criminal convictions, but can make it easier for the other party to get a DVO later on. Undertakings are very common, as well.
Some things to note when considering your options is that DVOs are very easily granted by the Court, even at trial. The reason for this is because a) it usually takes a better-to-be-safe-than-sorry approach to such orders in order to extend blanket coverage to genuine victims; and b) it does not want to discourage genuine victims from seeking help due to lack of faith in the Court. As such, the likelihood of having an order made against you is significantly higher than the likelihood of the Court dismissing the application, even if the evidence supporting the application is flimsy.
For your other questions, how long will a DVO last? The Court can make an order that lasts for up to two years, with the option to extend if necessary. The Court will usually only extend an order if there have been breaches recorded during the course of the existing DVO.
And how will you see your son if the order is in place? Well, this is a question that maybe deserves a thread of its own, but the shortest answer is to get parenting orders in place.
Parenting orders, which are made either by consent between you and your ex, or by a judge following trial in the Family or Federal Circuit Court, stipulate what time your son spends with you (among other things), and they override domestic violence orders (including those which name your son as a protected person and say you must stay 100m from him). As such, your goal should be on getting parenting orders in place, rather than dabbling in domestic violence orders.
Like I said earlier, a DVO consented to without admissions has very little bearing on how the Court determines parenting orders, so you might find consenting without admissions to be the easiest option so you can turn your full attention to where it is most important - getting parenting orders in place so you can protect your time with your son.
