More than 155 stakeholders oppose Federal Government’s Bill to abolish specialist Family Court
ALHR stands with more than 155 stakeholders from a wide range of professions and community organisations in opposing the Government’s deeply flawed legislation to abolish the specialist, stand-alone Family Court.
This rushed Bill risks the safety of survivors of family violence.
On 11 November 2019 ALHR signed an open letter to the Federal Attorney-General ahead of debate on the Bill in the Senate. The letter and a joint media release coordinated by Community Legal Centres Australia, The Law Council, NATSILS and Women’s Legal Services Australia, has been reissued today following news that the bill was listed without warning overnight as the first item of Government business on Tuesday 16 February, despite not being included on the Government’s draft legislative program for the Senate this week.
Read the Open letter and joint media release here
Please contact the Senate Crossbench to express your opposition to the Bill. Below we provide contact details and draft text that you may wish to use or adapt for a letter or phone call:
Phone call
I am telephoning today to urge Senator (insert name) to oppose the Government’s Bill to abolish the specialist, stand-alone Family Court in Australia.
The legislation is not only opposed by the legal profession but by a diverse range of professions and community organisations who work with Australian families and know that the Bill will be very harmful to adult and children survivors of family violence.
Safety must come first in family law.
I am very troubled that the bill was listed without warning overnight as the first item of Government business on Tuesday, despite not being included on the Government’s draft legislative program for the Senate this week.
I urge you to oppose the Bill and to consult with stakeholders who work with Australian families, especially those working with survivors of family violence.
Dear Senator,
I am emailing to urge you to reject the Government’s Bill to abolish the specialist, stand-alone Family Court in Australia.
The legislation is not only opposed by the legal profession but by a diverse range of professions and community organisations who work with Australian families and know that the Bill will be very harmful to adult and children survivors of family violence.
For more than three years these stakeholders have been calling on the Government not to proceed with this merger out of concern it would have devastating impacts on families, result in a loss of structural, systemic specialisation and dismantle the appeal division.
The safety of children and adult victims-survivors of family violence requires increased specialisation. Government commissioned inquiry after inquiry has recommended increasing specialisation in both family law and family violence, including the recent Australian Law Reform Commission inquiry into the family law system. This Bill undermines specialisation.
The crossbench should support a model that retains a stand-alone specialist superior family court and increases family law and family violence specialisation, such as the proposal by the New South Wales Bar Association.
Safety must come first in family law.
I urge you to oppose the Bill and to consult with stakeholders who work with Australian families, especially those working with survivors of family violence.
Yours faithfully,
(insert name)
Contact Details for the Senate Cross Bench
Griff, Senator Stirling SA CA senator.griff@aph.gov.au (08) 8212 1409 (08) 8231 2053 (fax)
Hanson, Senator Pauline QLD PHON senator.hanson@aph.gov.au (07) 3221 7644 (07) 3221 8422 (fax)
Lambie, Senator Jacqui TAS JLN senator.lambie@aph.gov.au (03) 6431 3112
Patrick, Senator Rex SA IND senator.patrick@aph.gov.au (08) 8232 1144 1300 056 115 (08) 8232 3744 (fax)
Roberts, Senator Malcolm QLD PHON senator.roberts@aph.gov.au (07) 3221 9099