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The Attorney-General’s Department welcomes feedback from interested stakeholders on an exposure draft of the Family Law Regulations 2024.The Family Law Regulations 1984 (the existing Regulations) are due to sunset on 1 April 2025. The department has been reviewing the existing Regulations with the intent to remake them prior to sunsetting. The existing Regulations support the operation of the Family Law Act by prescribing matters of practice and procedure, including:
relevant state and territory laws and agencies
protected names and symbols
requirements regarding family law arbitration
the conferral of family law jurisdiction on certain state or territory courts
requirements for parentage testing procedures
requirements for the registration of overseas orders
the process for overseas service of judicial documents
the process for the recovery abroad of maintenance.
The exposure draft Regulations cover these same topics and remain substantively the same as the existing Regulations. However, as the existing Regulations were made in 1984, drafting changes have been necessary to modernise, clarify and update provisions, and ensure they continue to operate effectively. Those parts of the new Regulations where more substantive changes are being made are outlined in the accompanying consultation paper.
The 'Children's Participation in Australian Family Law' Project needs your help!
Are you 10 to 21 years old?
Do you live in NSW, QLD or Victoria?
Have your parents separated and got help from the family court, a lawyer or a mediator since 2019?
Is your parents’ family law issue sorted now?
If you answered Yes to all of these questions, we invite you to take part in:
A 90-minute interview about your experiences of participating in the family law system, and to share your ideas for a Children’s Participation Toolkit; and
A 90-minute workshop to test the Children’s Participation Toolkit we create based on your ideas.
You will get a $250 Prezzee e-gift card for taking part: $125 for the interview + $125 for the workshop.This project is led by Southern Cross University and has been approved by Southern Cross University’s Human Research Ethics Committee (Approval number 2024/033). Members of the research team are: Lead Investigator: Dr Georgina Dimopoulos Co-investigators: Dr Meaghan Vosz, Ms Holly Aitken, Ms Helen Walsh, Ms Eliza HewIf you have any questions or would like more information about the project, please contact Dr Georgina Dimopoulos at georgina.dimopoulos@scu.edu.au.We thank you for your support of this research.
The Chief Justice has approved updates to four court forms:
The Notice of Ceasing to Act has been amended to emphasise considerations of a litigant’s safety when filing a Notice that contains a party’s address details. The Notice makes clear that it will be filed on the Commonwealth Courts Portal and visible to other parties, and that a party does not have to provide a residential address or any address that would compromise their safety. If that is the case, the party should contact the lawyer ceasing to act to advise them within 7 days, before the Notice is filed with the Court.
The Notice of Address for Service has also been updated to contain the same references to safety, including noting that a party does not need to disclose their residential address if they have safety concerns, and that the Notice of Address for service it will be viewable by all parties once it is filed on the Commonwealth Courts Portal.
Following feedback from Legal Aid Commissions and on behalf of Independent Children’s Lawyers, a new Part B has been added to the Subpoena form to allow space for any Independent Children’s Lawyers details to be added. In Part A, space has also been added for any additional party details. A number of updates have also been made to the instruction pages, including about objecting to a subpoena and inspection of documents.
The Proposed Consent Orders template has been updated to remove space for parties’ addresses to be filled in on the cover page, consistent with the recent removal of party address details from court orders in family law proceedings.
The Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH) has developed Best Practice Supervision Guidelines for the family violence, sexual assault and child wellbeing workforces.
Supervision is central to developing and sustaining the sectors’ workforces.
Developed in partnership with the sectors, the Guidelines provide best practice guidance, recommended standards, and examples to assist family violence, sexual assault and child wellbeing programs in providing regular and effective supervision.
The department is also producing a series of videos to support the Guidelines, which will be available in early 2025.
The Guidelines and videos are for use during individual, group or peer supervision sessions, staff induction, policy development and supervision training.
Approximately 20,000 applications are filed in the family court every year and about half of those involve parenting matters. The latest figures show almost all custody disputes involve serious allegations against one or both parents, with 91 per cent having major risk factors such as family violence, child abuse, serious mental health issues and substance issues. National cabinet met on Friday to discuss the findings of an expert panel's rapid review into domestic violence. The panel recommends "immediate audits of the weaponisation of government systems by perpetrators of domestic and family violence", including the family law system. Other recommendations include upskilling Independent Children's Lawyers, urgent legal assistance for victim-survivors and supporting families to resolve matters outside the court's "harmful adversarial processes". Other recommendations include upskilling Independent Children's Lawyers, urgent legal assistance for victim-survivors and supporting families to resolve matters outside the court's "harmful adversarial processes".
"Evidence has long shown how the adversarial family law system can cause acute ongoing trauma for children," the report stated.
"A well-recognised source of systems abuse includes the family law system, in which perpetrators attempt to drain the resources of victim-survivors through protracted and incessant legal proceedings; insisting on care arrangements which are unsafe and do not reflect the wishes of a child and, as research indicates, undermining the mother-child bond by coaching children to view their mother in a negative light."
This article looks at the role of connection to culture in the social and emotional wellbeing of urban young Aboriginal people. It considers how practice can support greater wellbeing via connection to culture and how services can improve their engagement with young urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Culture is an important factor in social and emotional wellbeing (SEWB) among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (Gee et al., 2014; Smallwood et al., 2023). The importance of connection to culture among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is recognised in various Australian government policies and frameworks (e.g. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan 2023–2025 (part of the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children) and the Closing the Gap Implementation Plan 2023).
However, awareness and understanding of culture and its connection to SEWB for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples among non-Indigenous practitioners and services could be improved. It is also important to recognise that the cultural and SEWB experiences of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across Australia are highly variable due to differences in culture, experiences of colonisation, geographic location (e.g. urban, regional, remote), economic conditions and levels of access to services.
For young men today, the internet can be a place where they explore and express their identities, including what it means to be a man.
As one of the first generations growing up entirely in the digital age, their online experiences are marked by tensions, complexities and possibilities.
This report examines the online experiences of young men in Australia aged 16 to 21 years old. It’s based on the findings from a qualitative study involving more than 100 young men. It explores what influences, motivates, shapes and informs the online experiences of young men in their own words, based on focus groups and in-depth interviews.
The research was done by eSafety in collaboration with Deakin University and Queensland University of Technology in 2023.
It looks at how young men:
shape and express their identities online
explore sexuality online
access and navigate social connections online.
This report is the first of a two-part project. The second part will explore practitioners' insights based on their experiences working with young men, looking specifically at healthy, positive masculinities and manhood.
Key findings based on the experiences of the young men involved in this study:
They shape and express their identities online
Being online allows young men to express themselves freely.
Self-expression online can be challenging for young men. They can feel pressured and anxious and even avoid being vulnerable when representing themselves as men online.
Engaging with online influencers is a key way that young men shape their identities.
Andrew Tate is a key social media influencer figure in many young men’s worlds.
They explore their sexuality online
Some of the young men felt cautious about sharing intimate images online.
Some were critical of online pornography.
They access and navigate social connections online
Young men connect with friends online.
Young men often find support and acceptance in online communities.
Young men can experience and perpetuate harm in online communities.
Online gaming communities can be a significant source of both connection and harm for young men who engage in them.
Registrations for the FRSA Strategic Leadership Forum 2024 are now open!
The dates are set for 10-11 September 2024 in Canberra. Click the button below to access the registration website. This is an FRSA Members only event.
We are working to build a program that provides CEOs and Senior Managers with the most relevant and most contemporary news and information of importance to the Family and Relationship Services sector.
Believe it or not – we are already in ‘pre-election’ mode – with the earliest date an election can be held (half-Senate and House of Representatives) being 3 August 2024 and the latest being 17 May 2025. So – it is important for the sector to be on the front foot with our political leaders and the Government agencies in delivering vital information about the ongoing value and importance of the Family and Relationship Services Sector.
To assist you in making your arrangements to attend whilst we finalise the program:
Day 1: Tuesday, 10 September 2024Location: National Portrait Gallery, Parkes Way, Canberra Start time: 10amEnd time: 5pmNetworking event – 5.30-6:30pm (venue – TBA)
Day 2: Wednesday, 11 September 2024Parliamentary Briefing Day – small group visits with Parliamentarians Location: Australian Parliament House Start time: 9amEnd time: 2pm (Dependent on when your final meeting is scheduled)
Access to the event details including the event program, speaker information and accommodation will be available on the FRSA Members Only Event page.
Please contact events@frsa.org.au for the password to the FRSA Member’s Only Event page.
The psychological impact of courtroom conventions and activities is significant, but it need not always be negative.
Each day you go into Court and there’s sadness . . . there’s extreme sadness, and there’s damage. And its people struggling to have their rights protected who are damaged. And I feel very sad . . . You don’t bring it into the courtroom with you, but you feel it.”1
These are the words of a Supreme Court judge interviewed as part of the author’s (Schrever) research project on the psychological impact of judicial work. It is one of dozens of similar comments judicial officers in the study made about the emotionally dense and trauma saturated atmosphere of the courtroom.
The courtroom is an environment like no other. For judicial officers, court staff and many legal professionals, it is their place of daily work – the space in which careers are built, capacities tested, and professional skills honed. For others, including litigants, defendants, witnesses and jurors, it is a house of often huge anxiety; a crucible of hope and tragedy to which they arrive to endure one of the most profoundly significant episodes of their lives – to have their fate determined by strangers, to have their story scrutinised and challenged or to make decisions that alter the course of another’s life. For all, it is an environment of extraordinary pressure and a container of intense and extreme human emotion.
Panel discussion from the FRSA conference 2024.
A new report card has found that Australia’s efforts to prevent violence against women are having a positive impact on rates of violence.
The national tracker from Our Watch, the national organisation for preventing violence against women and their children, found a significant 66% decline in women killed by men’s violence over the past three decades, and a decline in the harmful attitudes that drive violence over the past 20 years.
Our Watch CEO Patty Kinnersly said the report card demonstrated that progress was being made in preventing violence against women, but much more work was needed.
“In a year where 43 women have been killed allegedly by men’s violence, it’s difficult to reconcile that we are making progress in ending this national crisis. But when we look at the longer-term picture we can see significant reductions in the number of women killed by men’s violence, reductions in women experiencing violence and improvements in community attitudes that reject and challenge this violence,” Ms Kinnersly said.
“These are positive changes, but zero is the only acceptable number of gender-based homicides and there is still significant work to do if we want to see violence against women rapidly decline.”
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