Budget 2021-22: Impact on Family and Relationship Law

BUDGET ANNOUNCEMENT

IMPLICATIONS

Additional funding for enhanced social supports under the Family Advocacy and Support Services (FASS Centre) and for 26 new locations, including in regional areas.

• Funds available: $85 million
• Time period: Over three years from 2022-23

Each Australian State and Territory has a Family Advocacy and Support Service (FASS Centre) funded by the Federal Government.

FASS Centres combine free legal advice and support at court for people affected by domestic and family violence.  Currently, the only FASS Centres are located in Brisbane, Townsville, and Cairns.

Regional areas that are serviced by Circuit Courts lack these facilities as only some circuits have the ability for a FASS Lawyer or Support Worker/s to be utilised.

The addition of more FASS Centres, particularly in regional areas, will assist the already overburdened legal aid and family law pathway networks to offer better assistance and programs to court users.

Increased access to Children’s Contact Services for families across Australia who are unable to safely manage arrangements themselves for the contact and changeover of their children.

• Funds available: $101.4 million
• Time period: Over four years from 2021-22

Investment in Children’s Contact Services to reduce safety risks to family law system users.

• Funds available: $101.4 million
• Time period: N/A

Many of these Children’s Contact Services are run by not-for-profit organisations or private operators with high overheads. This affects their ability to offer discounted fees or to implement security measures.

In some regional areas there are no Children’s Contact Services at all.  Some families are required to travel considerable distances to enable time and contact to take place.

This funding is a welcomed boost to Children’s Contact Services.

It helps families to make safe arrangements for the transfer of children between families or to arrange facilitated supervised time by qualified supervisors in a safe and neutral environment for children and parents.

To boost security, the additional funding should be allocated to areas such as:

• Improved CCTV and change-over areas;
• Emergency safety and lockdown systems in the event of imminent threats to users and children; and
• Additional supervisors; and other safety improvements to facilities.

Strengthen criminal justice responses to sexual assault, sexual harassment and coercive control.

• Funds available: $4.7 million
• Time period: Over two years

Facilitate increased justice for victims of sexual assault.

• Funds available: $6.3 million
• Time period: From 2021-22

Sexual violence, abuse and coercive control are insidious aspects of the family law and domestic violence spheres. Much can and should be done to expose the prevalence of these in today’s society.

With more survivors of sexual assault, sexual harassment and coercive control reporting these events to the authorities, the additional funding is a step in the right direction to ensure these survivors obtain justice.

However, sexual assault support service, victim recovery groups and advocacy groups who provide services such as:

• Face to face and telephone counselling;
• Support groups;
• Advocacy; and
• Mental health/resilience training to those who have been sexually abused in childhood or sexually assaulted as an adult, and supports for their partners and family,

need to be appropriately funded.

Enabling the Family Courts to implement a new approach to Family Law Case management.

• Funds available: $60.8 million
• Time period: Over four years from 2021-22

With the merger of the Federal Circuit and Family Courts, a new streamline case management system is required to ensure that the already scarce resources are properly utilised.

Currently, the new pilot programs include the:

• The Small Asset Pool Resolution Pathway (also known as the Priority Property Pool for matters where the pool is $500,000 or less);
• The Discrete Property List; and
• The Lighthouse Project

These pilot programs are starting to impact the backlog of matters in the Courts.

The further funding of these new case management approaches will go some way to fixing the suboptimal family law system in Australia.

What remains to be seen is what the government will do to fix the lack of judicial resources including the funding of more judges, registrars, family consultants, and family dispute resolution practitioners within the merged court structure.

A new initiative called the National Strategic Framework for Information Sharing between the Family Law and Family Violence and Child Protection Systems.

• Funds available: $29 million
• Time period: N/A

The Queensland Law Society has been advocating and strongly supports for the “improved interaction and information sharing between the Family Law Courts and other agencies as a means of enhancing the capacity of the Family Law Courts to properly assess the risk of family violence.”

There is a major disconnect between the state-based child protection systems and the Federal Family Law system where information about ongoing investigations is not always shared with family courts.

This new Framework will assist the courts with information sharing without putting ongoing investigations at risk.

Supporting women and families experience family and DV violence.

• Funds available: $415.2 million
• Time period: Over the next four years

Target support needs to occur in areas such as:

• Crisis accommodation;
• long-term accommodation and housing projects; and
• return to work training

However, it goes without saying that this is a much-welcomed boost to supporting vulnerable women and families that have experienced domestic and family violence.  Whether this is enough remains to be seen.

Increased legal assistance funding to help women access justice.

• Funds available: $129 million
• Time period: Over four years form 2021-22

This will hopefully result in more funding for community legal services and specific services such as the Women’s Legal Service to assist vulnerable persons accessing justice systems including domestic violence and family law representation.