Legal - evidences

Family Law Amendment 2023

Senator Larissa Walters: these reforms make it “Safer for women and children”

“these reforms are long overdue and will improve the lives of Australian families” (Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus)

“Funding for frontline family and domestic violence services urgently needed to ensure women and children don’t remain at risk” (Senator Larissa Walters)

FCFCOA Merger

June 2022 review found goal of 12 month finalisation ambitious

The Community Legal Centres NSW article ‘Urgent action needed now to put Safety First in Family Law’ - emphasises need for specialisation

FCFCOA merger pt.2

ABC 2024 article ‘Social and gender biases have bled into family law and child protection systems, family violence expert says’ - “immediate audits of the weaponisation of government systems by perpetrators of domestic and family violence” and "Evidence has long shown how the adversarial family law system can cause acute ongoing trauma for children,"

Property disputes + financial agreements

Fields & Smith [2015] - contributions equalised

Thorne V Kennedy (2022) - prenuptial ignored

The Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) - family dispute resolution

The Conversation 2016 article ‘Separated parents and the family law system: what does the evidence say?’ - 70% of parents separate amicably, but out of the remainder, 10% use family dispute resolution compared to court (3%) and lawyer based mediation (6%)

SMH article 2020 ‘Working with both sides to deliver the right outcome for children’ - ‘I was more in control of the process to enable and facilitate a dialogue that could benefit the children,’ (Danielle Jaku-Greenfield)

Justin Dowd ‘In Australia, 95 per cent of cases resolve before they get to the end.’

Domestic violence - Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007 Sect 16 and The Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Amendment Act 2014 (NSW)

SMH 2024 “Violent porn, online misogyny driving gendered violence” - In the past 2 years from 2024: DV assaults increased by 6.7% (BOSCAR 2024), takes an average of 26 incidents for a victim to make a report.

“perpetrators of violence were often at their most angry and vengeful in the immediate aftermath of an ADVO being taken out.” (Domestic Violence NSW senior policy officer Dr Bridget Mottram)
Number of breaches increased 35 percent from 17,057 to 22,969 in the five years preceding 2023. (ADVO Breaches rise as penalties decrease - SMH 2024)

The Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 (NSW) (s 228)

approximately 26,400 children aged 0-12 had one or more child protection notifications substantiated from 2017-18 (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare web report ‘Australia’s children’)
^ 35% of these were in the lowest socioeconomic group. (Failure to ensure equality for children of all social status)
Neglect remains a prevalent issue: 2007 Ebony case

Child Support (regulation and collection) Act 1988

percentage of parents avoiding paying child support decreased from 70% to 30%

Child Support Scheme formula 2008

76% of paying parents approved of the changes (Child Support Agency review August 2008)

Only 50% of parents pay child support in full and on time

59% of responders reported their ex partners deliberately made partial, sporadic or non-payments to cause financial uncertainty/distress (Debts and Disappointment: Mothers’ Experiences of The Child Support System)

Surrogacy Act 2010 (NSW)

Department of Home Affairs: 240 Australian children conceived across UK, Ukraine, Canada and other countries.
Parties “left to their own devices when it comes to what is or isn't reimbursed” (ABC 2017 article ‘Surrogacy booming in Australia’)

The Conversion Practices Bill 2024

“incredibly harmful” (Minister for Health Ryan Park) practices are illegalised

The Equality Legislation Amendment (LGBTQIA+) Bill 2023

MP Alex Greenwhich: the amendment “improve[s] LGBTIQA+ dignity, safety and equality”
Opposition attorney general Alister Henskens: “it’s moving too far and it’s moving too quickly”

The Crimes Legislation Amendment (Coercive Control) Act 2022

‘I’m going to murder you’: Man pleads guilty under new coercive control law – SMH 2024:
Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna: the new laws had given the police the power to look for a range of behaviours that “on their own may not have previously amounted to sufficiency for a domestic violence charge” and “Police are no longer [just] looking for a black eye or a broken nose”.

CYPA Amendment Act 2018

SMH 2023 article ‘Children robbed of their future amid failures to protect NSW’s most vulnerable’:
One in four within 112,500 reports made in January to March 31 2022 were seen within the designated 28-day time frame.
Create Foundation chief executive Jacqui Reed: “their cases are horrendous”.

CYPA Amendment Act 2018 pt.2

Child protection Australia 2020-2021 report - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW):

More than 46,200 children were in out-of-home care

Australia’s child protection system provided services to 1 in 32 children aged less than 18 in 2020-2021

49,700 children under 18 subject to substantiated abuse/neglect.

The Miscellaneous Acts Amendment (Same Sex Relationships) Act 2008 (NSW)

ABC article “Same-sex couples dealing with IVF treatment model 'set up for heterosexuals’”: Ms Silk ““if a man was using his sperm for his wife it wouldn't be called a donation it would be part of the process”

The Education Act Amendment 2009 (NSW) and Children and Young Person’s (Care and Protection) Act 1998 (NSW)

SMH 2017 article ‘Mother convicted, fined $500 after children skip school’ - defendant failed to enforce children’s attendance to school.
R v Thomas Sam; R v Manju Sam (No.18) [2009] NSWSC 1003

The Assisted Reproductive Technology Act 2007 (NSW)

‘National guidelines oppose push to allow parents to choose sex of IVF babies’ - NHMRC concluded public was not ready for change. However numerous IVF clinics have already made submissions.
(ABC 2019 article ‘IVF Australia Sex selection procedure’) - Approx. 100-200 Australians have been travelling overseas for non-medical sex selection every year since NHMRC guidelines.
Dr Molloy: there “is just no harm associated with doing gender selection for a set number of families who want to family balance”

The Mitochondrial Donation Law Reform (Maeve’s Law) Act 2022

the “globally leading legislation would give hope to families across Australia” (Health Minister Greg Hunt)

ABC 2021 article ‘14-day rule on human embryo research – why do scientists want it lifted?’ - mentions International Society for Stem Cell Research’s revision of its guidelines.

The Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 (NSW) [protecting children from harm]

Bernard Case 2009 - blood transfusion objection overruled
ABC 2016 Article - ‘Court orders chemotherapy for cancer-stricken boy Oshin Kiszko after parents refuse’ - western Australia family court made child go into chemotherapy.
In 2015 - 79 children previously reported to Community Services as being of significant harm died from abusive parents/carers.
ABC 2017 article - ‘NSW child protection system failing; funding for intervention 'inadequate': report’ - Report found only 30% of children deemed at risk of significant harm were receiving face-to-face visits from caseworkers.

Family Law Amendment (Information Sharing) Act 2023

SMH 2024 article ‘Foster carers beg for support as record numbers quit the system’ - Review of the system found a low number of children within the permanency support program were placed in a permanent home within two years.

SMH 2024 article ‘Our foster carers deserve our support’ - Nearly 1000 authorised carers quit the system in the past year.

AbSec

Family is culture report + DCJ’s Tune Report found the child protection service to be “ineffective and unsustainable”
AbSec chief executive John Leha: the system “remains geared towards removing children rather than investing in early intervention services”