The family law system should be examined as part of a royal commission into domestic violence, crossbench MPs have urged, as experts warn that survivors face crushing legal bills and perpetrators are weaponising proceedings.
Teal independents Zali Steggall and Monique Ryan want Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to set up a national inquiry into the family violence crisis amid calls for an urgent injection of funds for legal assistance services.
A royal commission could “cross-check what federal and state governments are doing across all these systems, from legal aid, to crisis accommodation, to all of the areas that we know impact domestic violence”, Steggall said.
The domestic violence prevention sector is split on whether a royal commission would be useful or delay action and divert funding from crucial services.
Since 2022, the government has allocated more than $4.4 billion to the national plan to end violence against women and children.
National Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner Micaela Cronin last month said: “We don’t need more reviews” but “more action”. Independent MP Allegra Spender does not support a royal commission.
[O]ne option the government might consider was the feasibility of a loan scheme similar to HECS that could be “rolled out to cater for that middle tier of the population” that did not qualify for legal aid in family law cases.
National Legal Aid executive director Yvette D’Ath, a former Queensland attorney-general and justice minister, did not believe a royal commission was necessary because “a lot of the answers are there” as a result of previous inquiries.
She said a national approach was required in the “prevention and early intervention space”, alongside an increase in funding for legal assistance services.
Source: Teal MPs push for domestic violence royal commission to examine family law system