by John Flanagan

The Family Law Amendment Bill 2023 is going to be passed by Parliament with the very minor changes recommended by the Senate Committee.

The report went back to Parliament on 24 August 2024.

What the Labor Government’s Attorney-General is saying is completely different to what is actually contained in the Family Law Amendment Bill 2023. He is saying that the changes are only minor and that they are only there to simplify the Family Law Act. This is not true.

The main changes are:

1. Parental responsibilities will now be held by one parent. This mainly refers to decisions involving health, education and religious issues. It also refers to passports. For example, one parent only will now be able to apply for a passport for the children. There will be no involvement by the other parent. The parent with parental responsibilities can then whisk the children overseas, without the other parent even knowing that the children have a passport.
2. Shared parenting (i.e. custody) will only occur “if it is safe to do so”. The judges will not be able to be sure if it is safe to do so. Therefore, shared parenting will not occur. The wording should have been “unless it is unsafe for the child”. No judge can guarantee that it is safe to have shared parenting (custody).
3. There is not just a problem with the removal of shared parenting responsibilities and shared parenting (custody), there are also similar problems with the other sections. This includes the now easier avoiding of contravention orders by the person breaking the court orders; more readily being able to declare stubborn litigants to be vexatious litigants in order to get rid of them; and the widening of the secrecy provisions to include everyone connected with family court proceedings (previously just judges and their decisions).

The changes are major. The Labor A-G is telling lies.

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Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay.