Following its response last week to the Joint Select Committee Family Law Inquiry, the federal government has released draft legislation which it says will make the Family Law Act “simpler and safer” for separating families and their children.
“The government is committed to restoring the family law system so that it is accessible, safer, and simpler to use,” Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus KC said.
“This includes addressing the backlog of recommendations from family law inquiries under the former Government, such as the reports of the Joint Select Committee and Australian Law Reform Commission’s 2019 report, Family Law for the Future.”
Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth added that changes to the family law system would ensure the welfare of victim-survivors of family violence, including children, was paramount.
“It is critical that the family law system protects those at risk of violence – including children and young people – who are victims and survivors of family violence in their own right,” she said.
“We know that long, complicated and adversarial court proceedings can have negative effects on the health and wellbeing of people who are already in a fragile emotional state dealing with the breakdown of a relationship – including children.”
Now, the A-G’s Department has released its draft legislation to update the Family Law Act, which purports to address the “extensive court delays, protracted litigation, inaccessible support services and inadequate protection for people at risk of family violence” that it says has “dogged” the family law system.
The draft Family Law Amendment Bill intends to place the best interests of children “at the centre” of the family law system.
“Currently, custody arrangements require the court to consider two primary factors and thirteen additional factors; and be guided by four objects, five principles and one presumption. The proposed reforms replace these with six simple ‘best interests’ factors for courts to decide what the best parenting arrangements are for each child,” a statement from Mr Dreyfus reads.
“Recent inquiries have shown that the presumption of ‘equal shared parental responsibility’ provisions are widely misunderstood, causing prolonged litigation and conflict. The draft legislation repeals these provisions, making clear that the best interests of children are paramount.”
Category: Domestic Violence
The Mining Industry of Western Australia and the Problem of Sexual Harassment — FiLiA
Madhulika Agarwal discusses the failure of the Australian Government Inquiry into sexual harassment in its mining industry and its failure even to acknowledge the widespread existence of male violence against women in the sector.
Source: The Mining Industry of Western Australia and the Problem of Sexual Harassment — FiLiA
Crisis committee reassembled in Spain after six more women and a young girl murdered – Women’s Agenda
Six women and a young girl have been murdered in Spain since the start of January, prompting the Spanish government to call a second emergency meeting of domestic violence experts in less than a month.
Last assembled after the murders of 11 women in December, the crisis committee is now considering a plan to let abused women know if their partners have been convicted of violent offences.
In 2022, 49 women were killed by their partner or ex-partner, and in 2021, there were 43 women killed by these violent attacks.
(ed: In Australia the tally for 2022 was 55 women killed and our population is 25 million to Spain’s 47 million).
NSW Police may disclose domestic violence history under ‘Right to Ask’ trial
Potential victims of domestic violence may be warned about their partners’ history of abusive behaviour under a scheme set to be trialled in NSW.
Under the “Right To Ask” scheme, NSW Police would be given the power to disclose information about a domestic violence offender to potential new victims.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said the proposed scheme, based on the United Kingdom’s domestic violence disclosure scheme known as Clare’s Law, would help people to make informed decisions about their relationships.
The proposed NSW scheme would enable a person who may be at risk to apply through an online portal or phone line to access information about their partner, which would be available in multiple languages. Any information would be approved by NSW Police before it is provided, with strict privacy controls in place, including criminal penalties for malicious applications.
Police Minister and Deputy Premier Paul Toole said the dating landscape had “shifted considerably” since the previous trial, with more people accessing dating apps and dating outside their friendship circles.
The new scheme “will allow them to make more informed decisions about continuing a relationship, moving in with someone or making them a part of their family, particularly where children are involved”, he said.
The government will meet domestic violence organisations on Monday to discuss the implementation of the Right To Ask scheme, which will be subject to a review after 12 months.
Source: 12ft | NSW Police may disclose domestic violence history under ‘Right to Ask’ trial
Indigenous child faces extradition to allegedly abu… | NIT
A young First Nations woman is fighting to keep her daughter in Australia after a court ordered she be returned to her father, who the woman has previously accused of being abusive.
Advocate Janine Hendry, who was approached by the woman for help, told National Indigenous Times that the woman was subsequently returned to Europe.
“She was seven months pregnant when she went… She had the child in Europe and got her Australian citizenship and a passport.”
Ms Hendry said the man was allegedly violent and abusive before the mother and her child were able to leave for Australia in 2020.
The father then applied under the Hague Convention, an international law instrument designed to stop child abductions, to have the girl returned.
While the man is subject to a provisional Apprehended Domestic Violence Order, Ms Hendry said that under the Convention domestic violence is not recognised as a reason to not return a child to a parent.
“In the last two weeks the Attorney General (Mark Dreyfus) put in place laws in Australia that mean courts in Australia can, not must, consider domestic violence as a reason not to repatriate children, but it won’t be retrospective,” she said.
While the man is subject to a provisional Apprehended Domestic Violence Order, Ms Hendry said that under the Convention domestic violence is not recognised as a reason to not return a child to a parent.
“In the last two weeks the Attorney General (Mark Dreyfus) put in place laws in Australia that mean courts in Australia can, not must, consider domestic violence as a reason not to repatriate children, but it won’t be retrospective,” she said.
Source: Indigenous child faces extradition to allegedly abu… | NIT
Increase in Australian women killed by DV in 2022 – ABC Radio National
This year, around 50 women have been killed by domestic and family violence in Australia.
It’s an increase on 2021 figures, so how do we address this crisis?
Guests: Susan McLean, cyber security expert at Cyber Safety Solutions and former police officer
Sherele Moody, News Corp journalist and founder of the Red Heart Campaign
Dr Gina Masterton, Indigenous Australian Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the QUT Centre for Justice and a proud Gubbi Gubbi and Wakka Wakka woman.
Source: Increase in Australian women killed by DV in 2022 – ABC Radio National
Australian courts to consider family and domestic violence threat in Hague convention cases | Australian foreign policy | The Guardian
The federal government has announced reforms designed to stop women who flee domestic violence from being deported back into unsafe situations after a First Nations woman pleaded for help to stop her daughter being returned to Europe under a decades-old international agreement.
One First Nations woman, who cannot be identified, recently lost a bid to have a case heard by the high court to stop her daughter being sent back to Europe. The woman was in a relationship with a man, became pregnant and was intending to give birth in Australia, but says he coerced her into visiting him.
She alleges domestic violence occurred and she fled the situation with her daughter at the first opportunity possible to return to Australia. The man is now applying for the child to be returned to him using The Hague abduction convention. She says the law is being used to force her and her First Nations daughter back into an unsafe situation.
Asked how she felt when she first found out about the convention, the woman told the Guardian “betrayal is the enduring emotion”.
“Betrayed that there are no warnings signs at international airports letting mothers know that behind government walls they have signed away our rights to return home, even if domestic violence, pandemics, and/or medical complications force you to give birth overseas.”
The woman fought the decision through the courts, but says the law instructs judges to ignore the best interest of the child. She recently lost a special leave application to the high court.
She sought an urgent response from the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus.
She describes the situation facing her daughter as a continuation of the stolen generations.
The new laws will not apply to her case though, as they are not retrospective.
Federal government to change child abduction law to consider domestic and family violence before ruling – ABC News
The Federal Government has changed the law to address concerns regarding the way Australian courts deal with international child abduction cases where a parent has fled domestic violence overseas.
- Some Australian courts are sending women back to countries where they’ve escaped abusive partners, experts say
- Attorney General Mark Dreyfus says the law will be the changed so courts can consider domestic violence before ruling
- Mr Dreyfus added that Australia “fully respects” its international obligations under the Hague Convention
Under the Hague Convention, applications for a child to be returned can be rejected if a court decides that the child would face a “grave risk of harm” or be put in an “intolerable situation”.
Mr Dreyfus says the changes will clarify that family and domestic violence can be considered as a defence under the “grave risk” exemption.
In one case in 2008, English woman Cassandra Hasanovic, who had fled to Australia with her two sons, was stabbed to death by her husband after she returned to the UK when court orders were issued under the Hague Convention.
The changes have been done by regulation and do not require passage through parliament.
They will come into effect immediately and will not apply retrospectively.
Family violence can include fire threats and burning. We can do more to protect women
Using fire and burning, and threats to burn, as part of family violence is more common than many people realise. These tools and tactics are used to coercively control a partner or ex-partner.
Yet the threat of fire and burning isn’t routinely considered by police and family violence safety services in their risk assessments and safety planning for women who have experienced family violence.
The use of fire and burning has long been identified as a form of family violence in South Asian countries.
Australia has been slow to recognise and address the link between family violence and burning or threats to burn. This is, in part, due to limited data collection.
One small Australian study is the exception. This study conducted at the Royal Darwin Hospital, found women were more likely to be burnt, or were threatened with burning, during interpersonal violence, compared to men. Over 80% of the victims who suffered burns in this context required surgery, with many requiring skin grafts.
Notably, in risk assessments undertaken by police before Doreen Langham’s death, fire threat was not identified. However, her ex-partner, Gary Hely, had previously been investigated for setting fire to another ex-partner’s home just five years earlier.
Australian fire services could play an enhanced role in preventing, recognising and responding to fire related family violence. We could model the approach of England, where fire services have been part of the family safety response for more than ten years.
Australian fire services do not collect data that allows identification of connections between fire and family violence. Collection of this type of data would be useful in improving understanding, recognition and prevention of family violence related fire incidents.
Source: Family violence can include fire threats and burning. We can do more to protect women
Two Women Sue Apple After Their Exes Used AirTags to Stalk Them
Two women have filed a class action lawsuit against Apple after making the grim discovery that their former partners were using AirTags to track their locations. The suit was preceded by countless cases of women reporting that they, too, were being stalked by their exes via the $29 device, and innumerable warnings from ethical tech and women’s safety advocates.
In the new suit, one named plaintiff, Lauren Hughes, alleged that her ex-boyfriend placed an AirTag in her car tire’s wheel in an effort to learn where she’d moved to avoid him following their breakup. Her ex, she alleged, made efforts to disguise it by coloring it with a sharpie marker and tying it in a plastic bag. He soon began using the device to taunt her—even going so far as to post a photo of a taco truck from her new neighborhood and posting it online alongside a winking emoji and the hashtag “#airt2.0.”
As I previously reported, justice is exceptionally difficult to come by for anyone alleging AirTag stalking. As many experts told me, neither the police or Big Tech are particularly adept at navigating the many nuances of keeping people safe in abusive situations. “The issue itself is not just about AirTags,” Erica Olsen, director of the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV)’s Safety Net project, told Jezebel. “Tracking as a tactic of abuse is much broader than AirTags and has been a consistent issue within the domestic violence and stalking world for a long time.”
The new lawsuit alleges that any of Apple’s supposed safeguards for the device have done little to protect people like the plaintiffs. “While Apple has built safeguards into the AirTag product, they are woefully inadequate, and do little, if anything, to promptly warn individuals if they are being tracked.”
Source: Two Women Sue Apple After Their Exes Used AirTags to Stalk Them