New South Wales Bar Association Submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee on the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia Bill 2019 (Cth)

15/05/2020

The New South Wales Bar Association has made a submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee’s inquiry into the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia Bill 2019 (Cth).

The Association’s recommendations included that:

a. The Amended Merger Bills should not be passed;

b. This Committee advocate to the Parliament to properly fund and resource the family law system, including legal assistance, and commit to doing so on an ongoing basis;

c. A specialist, stand-alone and properly resourced Family Court be maintained in Australia to continue to provide specialist assistance to children, families and survivors of family violence;

d. This Committee advocate to the Parliament to adopt the Association’s Family Court 2.0 Model and relocate judicial officers hearing family law matters and the family law jurisdiction of the Federal Circuit Court into a second division within the Family Court;

e. The Amended Merger Bills should not be debated in the Senate or passed before the ongoing inquiry by the Joint Select Committee on Australia’s Family Law System has concluded, so as not to pre-empt or undercut the Joint Select Committee’s important work or findings; and

f. This Committee advocate to the Parliament to carefully consider and engage with the recommendations of the Australian Law Reform Commission’s landmark review of the family law system, including recommendations to overcome any jurisdictional gaps and improve information sharing between state-based child protection and family violence prevention, and Commonwealth family jurisdiction.

View the submission here

---