Law Council Sets Out Opposition to Parenting Management Hearings

The Law Council of Australia has recently given evidence to the inquiry into the proposed introduction of Parenting Management Hearings, where it called for these proposals to be scrapped and for the funds to be used instead to reduce the unacceptable waiting times in the Family and Federal Courts. 

The inquiry, which is being led by the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee, is examining the Family Law Amendment (Parenting Management Hearings) Bill 2017. This is a new piece of proposed legislation currently before the Senate. The purpose of the legislation, as described on the Senate website, is to "amend the Family Law Act 1975 to establish the Parenting Management Hearings Panel as an independent statutory authority to provide self-represented litigants with an alternative to the court process for resolving parenting disputes".

The Law Council is opposed to the proposals, claiming that the measure was announced by former Attorney-General George Brandis in the 2017 Budget without consultation with the legal profession.

“The making of decisions about matters such as where a child lives, with whom a child spends time, and how a child communicates with a parent, let alone questions of parental responsibility, are matters that are, and should remain, within the remit of judicial decision-making power of judges,” stated President of the Law Council of Australia, Morry Bailes.

“The panel also creates yet another layer of complexity to the navigation of the family law legal system, and increases, rather than reduces, the risk to children and adults involved in family law disputes,” he said.

“The changes proposed by the Bill, and the radical steps they seek to implement, must be viewed with even greater concern, in the context of the ongoing Australian Law Reform Commission Review of the Family Law System,” he added.

Mr Bailes also highlighted that the $12.7 million needed to establish and operate the panel could achieve a far better outcome for children and parents involved in family law disputes by being used to improve resourcing of the existing court system, as well as counselling and support services, such as contact centres.

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