If you ever doubted that the Rudd government would keep their hands off the shared parenting changes to the Family Law Act, then doubt no more. This sustained and concerted attack on those changes is the very worst I have encountered in 15 years of attempting to facilitate reasonable contact between perfectly good fathers and their children.
It’s up to you to convince the Government that there are
a
million votes at stake if they roll back the shared parenting changes or
move towards altering the domestic violence legislation on a national basis, by
overturning the presumption of ‘innocent until proven guilty’.
Fathers and supporters, war has been declared and now is the time to protest
these changes. Let your federal MP know you will not vote for Labor if they dare
to roll back the shared parenting improvements. Let them know your relatives
(number) will not vote for Labor if they deny children shared parenting with
their fathers? Let them know of your outrage at the proposals to interfere with
the well understood principles of “innocent until proven guilty”. Let them know
of your absolute disappointment in the Labor Government’s decision to protect
only women and children from domestic violence. Do men who are victims not
matter? Let them know you consider their policies to be discriminatory against
men!
A MILLION VOTES PLUS RIDE ON THIS ATTACK ON FATHERS AND THEIR CHILD’S RIGHT
TO BE LOVED AND CARED FOR BY DAD ON A SHARED CARE (EQUAL) BASIS.
Thanks to John Flanagan of the Non-Custodial Parents’ Party, we now have a
current list of all 6 inquiries into family law, domestic violence and child
support.
Regards Sue Price
Men's Rights
Agency
P.O. Box 28,
Waterford, Qld 4133, Australia
Tel: 07 3805
5611 Fax: 07 3200 8769
Email:
admin@mensrights.com.au
Web:
www.mensrights.com.au
There are actually five (5) inquiries around at present (plus an internal CSA
inquiry) - please see below for details of all six (6) inquiries.
1. Family Courts Violence Review (review
by Professor Richard Chisholm)
The Attorney-General has commissioned a review
of the practices, procedures and laws that apply in the federal family law
courts in the context of family violence. The Family Courts Violence
Review will consider whether improvements could be made to ensure that the
federal family law courts provide the best possible support to families who have
experienced or are at risk of violence. Professor Richard Chisholm has been
appointed to undertake the review. The review will be completed by the end
of November 2009.
Information about this project is available at:
http://www.ag.
A submission can be made by emailing
familycourts:
violencereview@
The Family Courts Violence Review
C/- Family Law Branch
Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department
3-5 National Circuit
BARTON ACT 2600
2. Australian Institute of Family Studies
Evaluation
Information about the AIFS Evaluation is
available at the following websites:
http://www.aifs.
The AIFS brochure states that AIFS can be
contacted in relation to the Evaluation through the following means.
Australian Institute of Family
Studies
Level 20, 485 La Trobe Street,
Melbourne VIC 3000
Freecall 1800 352 275
Phone 03 9214 7888
Email
familylawevaluation
3.
Family Violence Research Project
AGD has commissioned the University of South
Australia, James Cook University and Monash University to investigate the impact
of family violence during and after parental relationship breakdown. This
research will examine the impact of family violence on separating parents’ use
of family law services, and how the use of these services impacts on separating
parents and their children. The study will involve surveys across four states,
and will be sensitive to urban, regional and rural differences. It will also
analyse the relative impact of other factors (such as socio-economic factors) on
decision-making by separating parents.
The contact person is Professor Thea
Brown
Thea.Brown@med.
4. Shared Parental Responsibility Research Project
The Attorney General's Department
has commissioned this research which will examine the impact of different care
arrangements on child well-being and development and whether changes in care
arrangements are associated with changes in children’s developmental outcomes
and well-being. It will compare outcomes for children of parents living apart
with outcomes for children who are living with both parents. The research will
include consideration of the economic costs of shared care. This project will
analyse three large data sets augmented with surveys and interviews with
children, young people and parents. This project is being conducted by the
Social Policy Research Centre at the University of New South Wales (SPRC) in
consortium with the Australian Institute of Family Studies and the University of
Sydney.
The SPRC can be contacted at:
Electronic Mail:
SPRC@unsw.edu.
Telephone: +61 2 9385 7800
Fax: +61 2 9385 7838
Post:
Social Policy Research Centre
University of New South Wales
Sydney 2052
Australia
5. ALRC to develop national legal framework to tackle family violence
(Extract from ALRC Media Release on 24 July 2009)
The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) welcomed today’s announcement by the
Commonwealth Attorney-General, the Hon Robert McClelland MP, of new
Terms of Reference for an Inquiry to address issues concerning violence
against women and their children.
The Terms of Reference ask the ALRC to focus on a number of matters, including:
“The protection of women and children is predominantly dealt with under state
and territory family and domestic violence laws and child protection laws. These
laws vary across the jurisdictions, which may result in women and children being
subject to different levels of protection depending upon where they live. There
also may be problems recognising and enforcing apprehended violence orders
across state and territory borders” Professor Weisbrot said.
“Another key issue is how these laws interact with Commonwealth laws touching
on family violence, such as the Family Law Act. The ALRC will explore
whether the complexity of Australia’s federal system causes problems, such as
inconsistent or incompatible protective orders; any duplication of effort by
federal, state and territory courts; or any gaps or inadequacies in the
cooperation between those courts and state and territory agencies.
“We also want to ensure that the law enables women and children to report
family and domestic violence, participate in legal processes, and access
appropriate remedies; as well as facilitating the rehabilitation of perpetrators
and, of course, the prevention of family violence in the first place.”
Professor Weisbrot noted that this inquiry follows on from the excellent recent
work of the National Council to Reduce Violence Against Women and Their
Children, which released its National Action Plan in March, and will also build
upon previous work by the ALRC. “The ALRC completed a major inquiry into
domestic
violence in 1984, and has also considered violence against women and
children and related matters in a number of previous reports, including those
focusing on the
legal rights
of children (1997),
women’s
equality before the law (1994) and
uniform
evidence laws (2005)."
“We will be working closely with our counterparts in NSW and around the country
to ensure the adoption of an effective and truly national approach to these
critical issues."
The ALRC will now commence its program of community engagement—including through
the use of its online ‘Talk to Us’ website—and will publish one or more
consultation papers for community debate and feedback. The final report and
recommendations are due to be provided to the Attorney-General by no later than
31 July 2010.
6. Child Suport Agency
Delivering Quality Outcomes Review
An independent review of the decision-making and quality assurance
process of Child Support is currently underway.
Dear Stakeholder
The Secretary of the Department of Human Services has commissioned an
independent review to gain confidence that the design and implementation of
current decision-making processes and quality assurance arrangements for Child
Support are appropriate and represent better practice in the Australian
Government context.
Stakeholders are encouraged to provide ideas, suggestions and feedback around
ways that Child Support can improve. Feedback can be provided via
DeliveringQualityOutcomes@csa. gov.au by 23 October 2009.
The Delivering Quality Outcomes Review will happen fairly quickly with
a report due in late November, hence the short timeframe for feedback.
The review will evaluate whether the Child Support’s current business
framework—rules, systems (including CUBA), processes and structure—provides
staff with the right support to enable them to deliver high quality outcomes for
Child Support customers.
For more information on exactly what the review will cover please see the
terms of reference below.
The Secretary has appointed an independent, impartial reviewer—David Richmond
AO—to head up the review.
David Richmond has a distinguished career which is well-regarded by both the
private and public sectors. He has a long history in conducting reviews for
government and has a keen interest in government service delivery.
David is well placed to
assess the broad range of topics within this review. His CV includes being
responsible for the delivery of all the facilities for the Sydney 2000 Olympic
and Paralympic Games and CEO overall Games operations. Most recently he was the
NSW government’s Coordinator General with responsibility for major investment
and infrastructure development
in NSW.
David looks forward to
receiving your input by 23 October.
Child support Agency
(CSA terms of reference not included here)
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