Review of the Family Law System: Discussion Paper
This submission follows the Law Council's earlier submission of 7 May 2018 to the Australian Law Reform Commission’s (ALRC) Review of the Family Law System—Issues Paper (IP 48).
The Law Council has set out in the table format that follows, its specific response to more than 130 proposals and 30 questions contained within the Discussion Paper. By way of overview and general comment, the Law Council notes the following:
- The ALRC Discussion Paper is ambitious in its breadth of its scope, however it does not address:
- the failure by successive governments to properly resource the existing Australian family law system; and
- whether the existing family law system – properly resourced – would represent the best practice model for family law in the Australian context.
- Rather than addressing those issues, the Discussion Paper proposes the establishment of a series of satellite services and further bodies. The Discussion Paper does not address the anticipated cost or funding of these initiatives, nor how funding might be allocated as between existing services and the courts, and new initiatives.
You can read the full submission below.