- War over family law
- By Lawrie Nowell
- Sunday Herald Sun
- 03/05/2009 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: moses ( 6 articles in 2009 )
A bitter gender war is set to start in Australia over parents' rights and the family law system.
Father's groups and anti-domestic violence organisations are lining up against each other over changes to family law.
A campaign, launched today, seeks to overturn recent Family Law Act amendments that enshrine "shared parenting" as a desirable outcome in family breakdowns.
Father's groups have vowed to "fight tooth and nail" to keep the amendments that give single fathers greater access to children in custody disputes.
Campaigners for Family Law Endangers Children will hold rallies in Melbourne and other capital cities today to call for the repeal of of shared parenting.
They say the law changes have forced children into contact with violent or sexually abusive parents.
And they claim the Family Court has failed to protect victims of child abuse.
The campaign has posted information on a YouTube site that includes the stories of young girls who have suffered abuse or violence at the hands of their fathers while under custody orders.
Initiated by activist Barbara Biggs and supported by former Family Court chief justice Alistair Nicholson, the campaign says it will highlight "the injustices of a court system which fails to protect children and remove their right to speak out against the wrongdoings".
"We have a petition with 2500 signatures calling for changes to the Family Law Act to protect children from forced contact with abusive parents, "Ms Biggs says.
"The way the Family Law Act is worded, parent's rights have become paramount and children's rights are secondary.
"We say children's safety and wellbeing - physical, emotional and psychological - should be at the heart of the Family Law Act."
But Lone Fathers Association president Barry Williams says the campaigners are a "a pack of idiots".
"The evidence shows it's good for kids to have contact with both parents," he says.
"These people should be looking at the case of shared parenting that are working instead of of focusing on a couple of negative cases.
"We'll fight them tooth and nail on this and it would be a brave government that would overturn shared parenting."
Other father's groups say family law is is stacked against men in favour of mothers and a lack of enforcement powers when access orders are ignored by mothers.
Monash history professor John Hirst, who has written a book critical of the Family Court, says in many cases men are obliged to prove themselves "innocent".
But Family Court Chief Justice Diana Bryant rejects the assertions of both sides.
She says while attempts are being made to make family law a less adverse process and access more affordable, the welfare of children is still the court's priority.
"The standard we apply in the end is, 'Is there an unacceptable risk to the child'," she says.
"I think most people in society would say that that was an appropriate test."
She says fathers are not discriminated against.
"Every case is dealt with on the facts of that particular case and what's in the interest of those particular children and that particular family," Justice Bryant says.
Orders to ban parents from contact with their children:
"They are not made lightly. Every case is dealt with on the facts of that particular case and what's in the interest of those particular children and that particular family."
Enforcing Family Court Orders:
"Enforcement is an issue for the court and it's always been a troublesome issue and I think the problem is you're dealing with human beings, not with pieces of property and enforcing property order.
"If someone refuses to sell property, that's easy. You appoint someone to do so or, if you have to, you appoint the sheriff to go and remove them from the house. That's easy. But when you're dealing with behaviour, that's much harder."
Changes to family Law:
"The lawyers are now doing a lot of things - there's mediation, collaborative family law is now increasing. That's where parties agree to go to lawyers who are collaborative lawyers and they agree that if the case isn't settled, they won't be able to use the same lawyers to go to trial.
"That's a powerful incentive to see a settlement. The lawyers are putting a lot of things in place.
"The Government is putting in place a lot of support for people who separate - they have family relationship centres, people have to go to a practitioner - either a registered lawyer or a mediator - before they can come to court."
The work of the family court:
"The Family Court is dealing with the most dysfunctional families... the FAmily Court doesn't deal with 'good enough parents'. We just don't see those people anymore.
"So when you look at those sort of cases, you wouldn't expect that there are going to be too many orders for shared care and you would expect in some of those cases to see no contact orders."
Father's groups and anti-domestic violence organisations are lining up against each other over changes to family law.
A campaign, launched today, seeks to overturn recent Family Law Act amendments that enshrine "shared parenting" as a desirable outcome in family breakdowns.
Father's groups have vowed to "fight tooth and nail" to keep the amendments that give single fathers greater access to children in custody disputes.
Campaigners for Family Law Endangers Children will hold rallies in Melbourne and other capital cities today to call for the repeal of of shared parenting.
They say the law changes have forced children into contact with violent or sexually abusive parents.
And they claim the Family Court has failed to protect victims of child abuse.
The campaign has posted information on a YouTube site that includes the stories of young girls who have suffered abuse or violence at the hands of their fathers while under custody orders.
Initiated by activist Barbara Biggs and supported by former Family Court chief justice Alistair Nicholson, the campaign says it will highlight "the injustices of a court system which fails to protect children and remove their right to speak out against the wrongdoings".
"We have a petition with 2500 signatures calling for changes to the Family Law Act to protect children from forced contact with abusive parents, "Ms Biggs says.
"The way the Family Law Act is worded, parent's rights have become paramount and children's rights are secondary.
"We say children's safety and wellbeing - physical, emotional and psychological - should be at the heart of the Family Law Act."
But Lone Fathers Association president Barry Williams says the campaigners are a "a pack of idiots".
"The evidence shows it's good for kids to have contact with both parents," he says.
"These people should be looking at the case of shared parenting that are working instead of of focusing on a couple of negative cases.
"We'll fight them tooth and nail on this and it would be a brave government that would overturn shared parenting."
Other father's groups say family law is is stacked against men in favour of mothers and a lack of enforcement powers when access orders are ignored by mothers.
Monash history professor John Hirst, who has written a book critical of the Family Court, says in many cases men are obliged to prove themselves "innocent".
But Family Court Chief Justice Diana Bryant rejects the assertions of both sides.
She says while attempts are being made to make family law a less adverse process and access more affordable, the welfare of children is still the court's priority.
"The standard we apply in the end is, 'Is there an unacceptable risk to the child'," she says.
"I think most people in society would say that that was an appropriate test."
She says fathers are not discriminated against.
"Every case is dealt with on the facts of that particular case and what's in the interest of those particular children and that particular family," Justice Bryant says.
Judge Bryant on...
Orders to ban parents from contact with their children:
"They are not made lightly. Every case is dealt with on the facts of that particular case and what's in the interest of those particular children and that particular family."
Enforcing Family Court Orders:
"Enforcement is an issue for the court and it's always been a troublesome issue and I think the problem is you're dealing with human beings, not with pieces of property and enforcing property order.
"If someone refuses to sell property, that's easy. You appoint someone to do so or, if you have to, you appoint the sheriff to go and remove them from the house. That's easy. But when you're dealing with behaviour, that's much harder."
Changes to family Law:
"The lawyers are now doing a lot of things - there's mediation, collaborative family law is now increasing. That's where parties agree to go to lawyers who are collaborative lawyers and they agree that if the case isn't settled, they won't be able to use the same lawyers to go to trial.
"That's a powerful incentive to see a settlement. The lawyers are putting a lot of things in place.
"The Government is putting in place a lot of support for people who separate - they have family relationship centres, people have to go to a practitioner - either a registered lawyer or a mediator - before they can come to court."
The work of the family court:
"The Family Court is dealing with the most dysfunctional families... the FAmily Court doesn't deal with 'good enough parents'. We just don't see those people anymore.
"So when you look at those sort of cases, you wouldn't expect that there are going to be too many orders for shared care and you would expect in some of those cases to see no contact orders."
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