Budget 2021: Boost to assist women with family law system

More than $400m earmarked for family law system to keep women safe and improve court efficiency but not for extra judges.

More than $400m will be directed towards the family law system to help women and children access justice and improve court efficiency. Picture: iStock

More than $400m will be directed towards the family law system to help women and children access justice and improve court efficiency but this will not be used to expand the number of judges deciding cases.

Instead, $129m will be directed to women’s legal centres that provide advice to those fleeing violent relationships, which have been run off their feet since COVID-19 hit.

Another $85m will be invested in Family Advocacy and Support Services over three years to expand their support to survivors of abuse while they engage with the family law system. The money will be used to provide access to the service in 26 new locations, including in regional areas.

Parents who cannot see their children other than with supervision will benefit from an extra $101.4m pumped into children’s contact services, including the creation of an extra 20 centres.

Long waiting lists for many existing contact services, which provide supervised access visits and a changeover point for children, means that parents can face delays to see their kids. More than $60.8m will be given to the new Federal Circuit and Family Court over four years to improve how it handles family law cases.

Registrars will be used to triage cases according to risk and to manage litigation more efficien­tly, freeing up judges to preside over trials — which Attorney-General Michaelia Cash says will mean more families will have their cases resolved sooner.

The money comes after the government succeeded earlier this year in merging the Family Court and lower-level Federal Circuit Court, despite strong opposition from family lawyers.

There will be a single entry point for families into the system when the new court opens its doors on September 1. To ensure vital information about abuse does not fall through the cracks between the state-based family violence and children protection systems and the federal family law courts, the government will invest another $29m on improved information sharing.

The spending comes after a NSW inquest investigating the death of two children killed by their father in Sydney’s northwest found key warnings were missed and information about their abuse was not shared between police, domestic violence systems and the family courts.

Outside the family law system, the federal government has vowed to wade into three controversial areas of state law reform that impact women’s safety — coercive control and strengthening sexual assault and harassment laws, setting aside $4.7m for its “multi-jurisdictional initiative”in these areas.

Several states, including NSW and Queensland, are looking at cracking down on coercive and controlling behaviour — which can include financial and emotional abuse, controlling what a person wears and their relationships with their friends and families — described as a “red flag” for domestic murders.

The government’s efforts will also include leading the states on reforms to sexual consent laws, amid a debate on whether active consent should be required to take into account a “freeze response” by some victims.

Senator Cash said the government would lead a national discussion to focus on increasing rates of convictions and supporting the needs of traumatised victims.

Child sexual abuse is another area targeted, with $16.8m earmarked for legal help to survivors and $24.1m for increased commonwealth prosecutions.

People suffering from mental health issues will also benefit from $60m in improved legal services.

An extra $10.7m will be used to extend two trials aimed at helping separating couples split small property pools quickly and affordably, with legal costs in some cases dwarfing the value of the property in dispute.