Government Submissions
Submissions are the means by which people express their opinions and suggestions for change.
National Network of Women's Legal Services
Submission regarding the Family Court's Family Violence Consultation - October 2002
Over the last three decades there has been increased recognition of the seriousness of family violence and its effects on families. Community attitudes towards family violence have shifted considerably and governments and courts at all levels are recognising the broader social and economic impact of violence in the home on the Australian community
The National Abuse Free Contact Campaign
The changes in legislation in July 2006 however create further barriers to women and children achieving safety and in fact will penalise women who raise concerns about their and their children’s safety. The National Abuse Free Contact Campaign is concerned that the changes would mean that:
- The best interests of children are being overridden by parents’ ‘rights’.
- Children’s safety and the safety of their family members being jeopardised
A rebuttable presumption of joint custody (residence) is dangerous and not supportable for a number of reasons:
Brown (et al, 1997) study has concluded that child protection has become ".... the core business of the court and that the court has become part of the child protection service and the wider child welfare system." (p.4). Their study found that 50% of cases at the mid point of proceedings within the Family Court are child abuse cases, and that most commonly there were multiple forms of abuse, including domestic violence. There is also strong evidence to show that where there are allegations of domestic violence and/or child abuse that the current system of family law is inadequate in its ability to protect children from violence.
Domestic Violence and Incest Resource Centre
We endorse the development of responses that facilitate co-operative parenting where it reflects the best interests of children. Family Relationship Centres will provide an important gateway to separating parents accessing appropriate information and referrals.
Given the significant incidence of violence and abuse in separating families, DVIRC and NTV are concerned that these centres be appropriately equipped to resource and support families where violence is an issue. Proposed reforms will place further pressure on victims to avoid disclosure for fear of penalties. Victims of violence will be required to maintain shared parenting when it is not in the best interests of their children, because of punitive legislative provisions that privilege co-operation between parents above children's safety.
DVIRC and NTV believe that the best interests of the child should continue to be the starting point in determining post-separation parenting arrangements. Equal shared parental responsibility or equal shared parenting time should depend on the abilities and capacity of individual families. DVIRC and NTV recommend that where violence or abuse is present, there is a presumption of no contact with an abusive parent until they can demonstrate a capacity to parent safely and positively.
The Family Law Amendment (Shared Parental Responsibility) Bill 2006: Putting Children at Centre Stage
Everyone at this conference will know that the debate leading to the bill started with the idea that children should be divided equally between each parent. And the reference to children being "at centre stage" put into my mind an image of child - in a box, on a stage, apparently being cut in half by a circus magician. The recent debate gave me much the same feelings as the anxious excitement generated by such spectacles. You wonder why it was treated as a good idea in the first place; you don't see how it can be done; you know it is a theatrical exercise... mainly, you hope the child will be all right at the end.
National Coalition of MACH
From our member base we can report however, that our members who have been or are going through family court with domestic violence and child abuse issues in fact are more often disadvantaged and maligned in family court because they have made allegations. It is more often that mothers and non-abusive fathers have lost custody/residence of their children because there is an assumption that the violence and abuse allegations are probably not genuine and/or overstated. The detrimental effect is that children have been handed over to residence to parents that have abused them.National Coalition of MACH
Under the current legislation, we can attest to the fact that the safety of children has been relegated as a secondary consideration in cases of substantiated domestic violence and child abuse claims. The "right of contact" has displaced the safety concerns of protective parents too often with devastating outcomes.
The current objects expressed in s 60B (1) (a) and (b) reiterate considerations already addressed in the current Family Law Act. That the chief considerations anticipated in s60CC(2) that (a) and (b) will both be primary considerations in determining the best interests of the child simply intensifies the already existing tension between the two. Under the current legislation, the need for the child to have contact with the non-resident parent has surpassed the need to protect the child from an unacceptable risk of violence and abuse directly or indirectly.
Submission to Steven Ciobo, Hon. Member for Moncrieff
The child protection crisis:
The CMC report concluded that the child protection system in Queensland had:
"failed many children,"
"systemic failures over many years"
"a state of crisis"
"incapable of responding adequately to child protection issues"
The report cautions that the transformational change processes employed should ensure that the existing problems and undesirable culture occurring in the former department are not transplanted into the new organisation. ( p.7)
At 13.1.13: There are a number of recommendations that relate specifically to the Queensland Police Service
Specialist sexual offence training be required for all Queensland Police Service officers working for Taskforce Argos, SCAN teams, the Child and Sexual Assault Investigation Unit, the Criminal Investigation Branch and the Juvenile Aid Bureau; ICARE training to be required for all Queensland Police Service officers working in specialist sexual offence squads;
Media, men and violence in Australian divorce.
The introduction of the Family Law Act in 1976 enabled many women to leave their abusive husbands and to apply for divorce without needing to prove matrimonial fault. Some men reacted violently to their wives' decisions to leave and it is argued this caused an increase in what we now call domestic violence. Some men also attacked the Family Court which they blamed for discriminating against them in children's matters, property settlement and child support. The article shows that some media reporting of domestic violence was 'neutral' as if domestic violence could be justified in some circumstances and should not be reported like other crimes.
The author suggests the federal government has seized on the media reporting of the violence over the years to help create a false 'mainstream' conservative view and build a case for reversing some of the initiatives of the Family Law Act, for example by introducing joint custody in the guise of 'shared care'.
Children and Family Violence in the Family Court:
Although Family Courts are well aware of the vexed problems confronting them when child abuse allegations are made in residence and contact disputes, those outside Family Court circles have paid little attention to this issue. Even within court circles, both in Australia and internationally, little research has been undertaken in relation to these problems. For, those researching in family courts and partnership breakdown have ignored child abuse and those researching in child abuse have ignored family courts. (brown)
Family Violence and Child Abuse +Family Court
Covers topics including family violence, allegations of child abuse, child protection, care and protection, the role of state and territory agencies, jurisdiction, the Magellan project.
Child sexual assault in the context of the family and the Family Court
Senator Andrew Murray WA
I turn to the troublesome problem of child sexual assault in the context of the family and the Family Court. The reason for doing so is that for some years now activists against child abuse have contacted my office complaining of how ill equipped the Family Court is when assessing child abuse cases. The essence of the concern relayed to my office is that the Family Court - as protector of "last resort" for many abused children - is failing to consistently act "in the best interests of the child".
Some trial documents are shocking to read because of judgements that have ignored the expert evidence of doctors and specialists in the field of child abuse and that have delivered children into the hands of apparently abusive fathers. They are also shocking to read because of the continued behaviour of defence lawyers who think that earning a dollar and getting someone off is more important than what they have done to that child and the future of that child
No safety for family violence victims in family law
Espeth McInnes
Every week, somewhere in Australia, there are mothers and children who are frantic with dread, anxiety, grief and betrayal. They face an agonising choice. Family Court orders require the mothers to hand their child into the care of a person that the child has told them has physically and or sexually abused the child. The child, usually aged less than 7, believes their parent will protect them, but the Court requires that the child attend contact with the person the child has named as their offender. Any failure of the child to be happy to attend contact will be blamed on the resident parent.
The parent may also be subject to orders that the child not be taken to any medical or therapeutic care. There might also be orders that the parent does not discuss with the child any complaints or concerns the child may have while attending contact with the other parent.
ASCA (Adult Survivors of Child Abuse)
The Problem with Family Courts, October 2004
The issue : Non-offending parents, in cases before the Family Court, are losing custody of a child or children because of a flaw - political, not legal - in the system.
There is one specific problem which has more continuing, devastating effects than any other matter ASCA has to deal with. It involves parents who lose the custody of their child/children to the person who the child has accused of abusing them - even though children rarely lie about or imagine incest.
The Victims of Crime Assistance League Inc NSW
VOCAL's focus group is people harmed by abuse, threat, crime and consequences. Few protective parents have any idea what awaits them if they pursue their ideological position of an expectation of society's support for safety - the 'systems', the exorbitant costs; the derision, the punishment, the lack of real concern for them and their children.
The Best Interests of the Child? The Interaction of Public and Private Law in Australia
When a mother discovers her partner having sex with their child she may choose to separate from the father. If she does not separate from the father, state child protection services may place the child in foster care for its safety. If she does separate from the father, there is a strong likelihood that in the eventual outcome she will be ordered by the Family Court to present the child for immediate or eventual unsupervised contact with the father. The only way she may be able to protect the child from sexual abuse during unsupervised contact with the father is to return to live with the father.
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