AFCC Conference

AFCC Conference Children as the Starting Point: Assessing Families for Family Law Disputes 15 August 2014 MELBOURNE 123 Collins Street Melbourne VIC 3000 Australia 8:30 - 9:15 PM: REGISTRATIONS 9:15 - 9:30 PM: WELCOME Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia Diana Bryant 9:30 - 10:30 PM: OPENING ADDRESS The Honourable Alistair Nicolson KEYNOTE SPEAKER Professor Jennifer McIntosh - La Trobe University & Family Transitions Beyond the baby wars: Toward integrated overnight care guidelines. 10:30 -11:00 PM: MORNING TEA 11:00 -1:00 PM: PANEL DISCUSSION The narrative complexity of Family Report writing: From Wandin Valley to Wolf Creek, unravelling the plot and revealing the characters PANELLISTS Chairperson: Rohan Holt, Barrister Dr Phil Watts Clinical and Forensic Psychologist Judge Bauman Judge of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia Ms Debra Harris Barrister Victorian Bar Justice Austin Family Court of Australia The Hon Sally Brown Former Judge Dr Peter Krabman Psychiatrist Mr David Hugall Family Consultant 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM: LUNCH 2:00 - 3:00 PM BREAKOUT SESSION 1 MAYFAIR 1 Judge Altobelli A Judicial perspectives on shared care and overnights- current controversies Chairperson: Vincent Papaleo, clinical psychologist MAYFAIR 2 Ms Debra Harris Current legal issues’ Chairperson: Darren Mort, Barrister MAYFAIR 3 Mr Stephen Page GBTI issues and controversies Chairperson: Mark Wilson, Barrister GROSVENOR Mr David Hugall Family Court of Australia Guidelines for Family Law Assessments and Reports’ Chairperson: Justice Victoria Bennett AUSTRALIAN CHAPTER 2 | AFCC CONFERENCE 2014 3:00 - 3:15 PM EXPRESS BREAK 3:15 - 4:15 PM BREAKOUT SESSION 2 MAYFAIR 1 Dr Simon Kennedy Sexual abuse allegations in the Family Court Chairperson: Christina Sadowski, Federation University MAYFAIR 2 Dr Phil Watts When does pornography become a risk factor in family assessments Chairperson: Phillip Trudinger, Psychologist MAYFAIR 3 Mr Owen Pershouse Pathologising Relationship Crisis: The Hostile Alienation Syndrome Chairperson: Julie Jackson, Director Family Division Western Australia Legal Aid GROSVENOR Ms Alison O’Neill Evaluations of Family Court Reports by psychologists in New South Wales Chairperson: Kylie Beckhouse, Executive Director Family Law NSW Legal Aid 4.15 PM: COMPLIMENTARY DRINKS @ THE HYATT BAR 15 AUGUST | MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA | 3 AUSTRALIAN CHAPTER The Presenters THE HONOURABLE ALASTAIR NICHOLSON The Hon. Alastair Nicholson was a barrister for 19 years and a judge for 22 years. He served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria, a Justice of the Federal Court of Australia and for 16 years, as Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia. Since 2003, he has been an Honorary Professorial Fellow of the University of Melbourne, currently attached to the Faculty of Law. He has written and spoken extensively on issues relating to human rights and the rights of children and youth at many Australian and international conferences. He is the Chair of Children’s Rights International and has been heavily involved in the World Congress on Family Law and Children’s Rights, in planning and development of child justice programs in Cambodia and Vietnam and in urging a new and enlightened approach to issues associated with Indigenous people in Australia. Since 2003 he has chaired the National Centre against Bullying of children in Australia and has spoken and written on the law relating to bullying. He has a long history of involvement with AFCC, is an AFCC ambassador and was Co- Chair with then AFCC President Linda Hahn of the Second World Congress on Family Law and the Rights of Children and Youth held in San Francisco in 1997 and became AFCC’s first non-North American president in 1998. PROFESSOR JENNIFER MCINTOSH Jennifer McIntosh, PhD is Adjunct Professor at La Trobe University (School of Public Health and Human Biosciences) and Clinical Director of Family Transitions. She is a clinical and developmental psychologist, family therapist, and researcher. She has a particular interest in the relationship between care-giving and compromised developmental trajectories in early childhood. Her Melbourne based centre, established in 2001, is devoted to clinical assessment and treatment of families experiencing trauma or transition, and the support of professionals who work with them. She completed her PhD in Psychology at the University of Melbourne in 1997. Since then she has been engaged in the study and treatment of family trauma. Her clinical intervention research has focused on supporting developmental security for children during divorce and separation processes, via enhanced reflective functioning in parents. She has developed and tested effective approaches to Child Inclusive Mediation, researched family outcomes of the Family Court’s Less Adversarial Trial, and studied children’s experiences in supervised contact centres. Current research includes the development of the new Family Law Risk Screening Framework: the DOORS. In 2011, McIntosh received the AFCC Stanley Cohen Distinguished Research Award, which recognizes outstanding research achievements in the international field of family and divorce AUSTRALIAN CHAPTER 4 | AFCC CONFERENCE 2014 THE HONOURABLE SALLY BROWN AM After time as a solicitor, tertiary lecturer and barrister, Sally Brown was appointed a magistrate in Victoria in 1985; in 1990 she was appointed Chief Magistrate, the first woman to head a Victorian Court. Between November 1993 and June 2010 she was a judge of the Family Court of Australia and for much of that time was the Judge Administrator for the Southern Region, which included Tasmania and South Australia. She was instrumental in the development and delivery of judicial education in Australia, particularly education relating to gender and culture, and the incidence and impact of family violence; she has maintained a long standing interest in juvenile justice, child protection and children’s rights, and was responsible for the Magellan list in Victoria for many years. Other interests, pursued through a range of organizations, relate to support of the marginalized and disenfranchised, including the homeless and prisoners after release, and maintenance of the rule of law. JUSTICE STEWART AUSTIN Justice Stewart Austin was sworn-in as a Judge of the Family Court of Australia in July 2009. Justice Austin holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Jurisprudence from the University of New South Wales, awarded in 1984. He was admitted as a solicitor to the Supreme Court of NSW in 1984 and the High Court of Australia in 1988. He was a partner at Burgess Austin Solicitors in Newcastle (1989-1997). As a solicitor, he acquired specialist accreditation in both criminal law and advocacy in 1994 and 1996 and was appointed as an arbitrator for the Local Court of NSW (1995-2003). Justice Austin was admitted as a barrister in 1997, undertaking work in a broad range of jurisdictions, but appearing most often in criminal trials and sentences. More recently he has been an instructor for the Australian Advocacy Institute, which provides advocacy tuition to barristers and solicitors JUDGE TOM ALTOBELLI After 25 years in practice Dr Tom Altobelli was appointed as a Federal Magistrate on 13 November 2006 and is currently sitting as the Federal Circuit Court Judge in Wollongong. He holds a Master of Laws and Doctorate in Juridical Science, and is an Adjunct Professor in the School of Law, University of Western Sydney. Before his appointment, Tom was accredited as a specialist in the areas of Family Law, Children’s Law and Mediation. He was, formerly, Special Counsel at Watts McCray Lawyers, Australia’s largest family law firm, and an Associate Professor at the University of Western Sydney. He was also a member of the Executive of the Family Law Section of the Law Council of Australia. Tom has authored four books on family law and dispute resolution as well as 50 articles in Australian and International Journals. Judge Altobelli is involved in a number of Court committees dealing with Judicial Education and Best Practice in Children’s Cases. 15 AUGUST | MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA | 5 AUSTRALIAN CHAPTER JUDGE MICHAEL BAUMANN Mr Baumann commenced his appointment as a Federal Magistrate on 19 June 2000. Michael Baumann was admitted to practise as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland in 1979. For 21 years Mr Baumann was a sole practitioner and then a partner of the Gold Coast law firm of Bells Solicitors where a substantial part of his practice has been in the Family Law jurisdiction. From 1995 to his appointment, Mr Baumann had been Chair of Legal Aid Queensland. He served as President of the Queensland Law Society from 1993 to 1994 and was awarded the title of Australian Young Lawyer of the Year by the Law Council of Australia in 1991. Mr Baumann one of the first practitioners accredited by the Queensland Law Society as a family law specialist. He completed his LLM in 2000. Mr Baumann has been actively involved in mediation both as a participant and as a practitioner. He is an accredited mediator with Bond University and an accredited mediator and arbitrator with the Australian Institute of Family Law Arbitrators and Mediators. Since becoming a Federal Magistrate, he was awarded the Outstanding Alumni award by the Law Faculty of the Queensland University of Technology. Since late 2007, Federal Magistrate Baumann has been the National Coordinator of Case Management for the Federal Magistrates Court working with the Chief Federal Magistrate to enhance the efficiency and delivery of service by the Court. As a Judge of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, he regularly speaks at Conferences on Family Law and related topics. Judge Baumann was recognised for his contributions to the law, case management, legal aid and sporting organisations by being made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2012 Australia Day honours list. DR PETER KRABMAN Dr Peter Krabman is a child, adolescent and family psychiatrist, in private practice in Sydney. He spent seven years as medical director of Coral Tree Family Service, which is a statewide program providing intensive family interventions for the families of children with severe emotional and behavioral difficulties.

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