Men's Rights Agency - News & Views
Howard Supports Single Mothers
Not that we're superstitious, but Friday 13th March 1998 marked the culmination of a week of announcements by Prime Minister John Howard, that must have left many non custodial parents wondering why they changed their vote for the coalition.
On International Women's Day 8/3/98 the Prime Minister pledged to ensure women receive immediate access to superannuation as part of divorce settlement. He said the planned reforms would result in "greater fairness and certainty in the treatment of superannuation in the event of a marriage breakdown". Being a little perplexed as to the portent of this announcement in the light of the fact superannuation has been taken into account by the Family Court for many years now, we were surprised Howard would consider this a worthy line to promote on IW Day.
Financial advice columnist, Noel Whittacker, in his recent article "Divorce a Super rift", Brisbane Sunday Mail, 15/3/98 put it down to "electioneering" and questioned just where Mr Howard has been spending his time, because "this 'revelation' is 23 years late"
Reform to superannuation fund rules could be beneficial in divorce settlements if it stops the awarding of additional property share because superannuation funds cannot be accessed until retirement. A close watch and input into the discussion process is required to monitor the proposed legislative changes.
By the end of the week it became obvious our Prime Minister is either receiving extremely bad advice or has an unshakable belief in the saintliness of all women.
Coming out in defence of single mothers he declared most of them to be "deserted wives", blaming political correctness for hiding this fact! When exactly the opposite could be said to be true. MRA statistics show that in 90 per cent of separations the wife makes the unilateral decision to breakup the family and 80% of those already have another person waiting to take their husband's/partner's place. Even the Family Court statistics acknowledge nearly 70% of women make the decision to divorce. This figure is comparable with other countries around the world yet Mr. Howard claims a uniqueness about Australian women that cannot be justified.He said the profile and plight of single mothers in Australia is very different from that in the United States.
Is he saying American women should be pitied less because they are not deserted wives or is he putting Australian women on a higher pedestal?
Whatever the reason, from the available statistics it would appear to be far more a case of "abandoned husbands" than "deserted wives".
Domestic violence also rated a mention with the Prime Minister declaring "Real men don't beat women". Yes, we agree totally, but their was no mention of the reverse that "Real women don't beat men" or their children and they are in the majority when it comes to child abuse.
Many believed that under a Coalition government much of the political correctness would disappear and the anti-male agenda would recede. The initial moves to lessen the influence of the Office for the Status of Women by slashing their budget allocation were welcomed, but we fear the PM has succumbed to the extreme pressure exerted by the women's lobby groups.
Perhaps it is time to remind the politicians, in pursuit of the female swinging voters, that they achieved their massive majority at the last election with the assistance of a 12 - 13 % swing by adult men, for the first time in Australian electoral history.
Sue Price, Men's Rights Agency