SUBMISSION
Australian Government’s Joint Select Committee on Australia’s family law system
This submission outlines ANROWS research evidence relevant to the Australian Government’s Joint Select Committee’s two-year inquiry into the family law system in Australia.
The submission supports three repeated themes identified in a series of inquiries into the family law system beginning in 2001. These are that the family law system must improve its response to domestic and family violence; the family law system and state and territory child protection agencies must share information; and matters involving family law, family violence and child abuse must be dealt with concurrently and in the same place.
Recommendations made in this submission include the following:
- Take measures to ensure the early identification and response to DFV to curtail systems abuse through litigation.
- Implement Women’s Legal Service Australia’s five-step Safety First in Family Law plan to create a family law system that prioritises keeping women and children safe.
- Reduce the opportunity for systems abuse through better integration and interaction between the family law system, state and territory child protection systems, and DFV jurisdictions.
- Improve identification of, and response to, women experiencing financial and systems abuse in the context of DFV.
- Increase support to assist victims and survivors of DFV to resolve property and child support arrangements quickly and fairly, so the economic disadvantages stemming from experiencing DFV are not entrenched.
- Ensure that the specific cultural and spiritual needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are separately considered.
There have already been a number of changes made to the family court system relating to these recommendations.
Suggested citation
Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety. (2020). Joint Select Committee on Australia’s Family Law System [Submission]. ANROWS.