FAMILY LAW COUNCIL MINUTES 24-26 June 2015

FAMILY LAW COUNCIL

MINUTES

24-26 June 2015

Location:Family Court of Western Australia, PerthWA

Present
Members:(Chair) Professor Helen Rhoades – Melbourne University – VIC

Justice Robert Benjamin – Family Court of Australia – TAS

Ms Jennie Hannan – Anglicare WA – WA

Dr Rae Kaspiew – Australian Institute of Family Studies – VIC

Judge Kevin Lapthorn – Federal Circuit Court – QLD

Ms Colleen Wall – Nguin Warrup (Black Drum) Ltd – QLD

Ms Kylie Beckhouse – Legal Aid NSW – NSW

Mr Jeremy Culshaw – Culshaw Miller Lawyers - WA

Observers:Ms Pam Hemphill –Families SA - Dept for Education Child Development– SA

Professor Lawrie Moloney – Australian Institute of Family Studies – VIC

Ms Adele Byrne – Federal Circuit Court – VIC

Magistrate David Monaghan – Family Court of Western Australia – WA

Mr Rick O’Brien – Family Law Section – Law Council of Australia – WA

Ms Angela Filippello – Family Court of Australia – NSW

Ms Jackie Brady – Family and Relationship Services Australia – ACT

Ms Tamsyn Harvey – Attorney-General’s Department – ACT

Mr Stephen Still– Attorney-General’s Department – ACT

Secretariat:Ms Kim Howatson – Attorney-General’s Department – ACT

Researchers:Ms Nareeda Lewers – University of Melbourne – VIC

Ms Jo O’Donohue – University of Melbourne – VIC

Summary of Actions Arising

Status

(i) Secretariat to mark February 2015 meeting minutes as final and arrange for the minutes to be uploaded onto Council’s webpage. / completed
(ii) Secretariat to circulate the CDS report to meeting participants for information. / circulated with October papers

The following is a summary of items discussed:

Welcome and Apologies

Professor Helen Rhoades welcomed members and observers to the Family Law Council (Council) meeting inPerth andacknowledged the traditional owners of the land where the meeting was being held. Professor Rhoades thanked Chief Justice Thackray as well as Magistrate Monaghan for the use of the Court’s facilities and their staff’s gracious assistance with the venue and logistics for the three day meeting.
Professor Rhoades welcomed Mr Rick O’brienas the representative from Family Law Section of the Law Council of Australia (FLS) and acknowledged the apology from Mr Geoff Sinclair on this occasion. She also welcomed Ms Nareeda Lewers to the meeting as Council’s research fellow for the terms of reference, along with Ms Jo O’Donohue. Professor Rhoades welcomedback Ms Pam Hemphill who attended as an observer on behalf of Families SA - Dept for Education & Child Development, an agency approved by the Attorney-General for the duration of the current terms of reference.
Apologies were received from two of the observer agencies;the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) and the Department of Human Services (DHS),as neither agency wasable to attend on this occasion.

Declarations of Conflicts of Interest

Declarations of potential conflicts of interestwere provided by Dr Rae Kaspiew in relation to work being undertaken by AIFS and Professor Rhoades in the case of family reports being discussed. It was agreed at the Secretariat level that the matter would be managed should an issue arise. No other conflicts of interest were declared for this meeting

Minutes of previous meeting

Council accepted the minutes of the meeting held inJune 2015 without any changes and agreed for the minutes to be uploaded to the webpage. No significantaction items remained outstanding from the June meeting.

ACTION: (i): Secretariat to mark February 2015 meeting minutes as final and arrange for the minutes to be uploaded onto Council’s webpage.

General Business

Council congratulated Justice Robert Benjamin for his award of Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia,received earlier in June, for significant service to the judiciary and to the law, to legal education, mediation and arbitration and professional standards.
It was acknowledged that on 4 June 2015, Council approved the proposed performance metrics developed for the regulation of family dispute resolution practitioners under the new Regulator Performance Framework.
Professor Rhoades briefly discussed her meeting with the Attorney-General, held in April in Melbourne.
It was noted that there was nocorrespondence requiring significant discussion for this meeting.Discussion on Council’s terms of reference
Professor Rhoades, with assistance from Council’s research assistants,provided a general introduction and overview of the progress on Council’s terms of reference (TOR) to date, in particular the progress on the first two terms of the reference. It was noted that since the previous meeting, there had been a significant number of consultations and forums undertaken in various locations as well as a large amount of letters sent directly to key stakeholders seeking input to the reference. Council had received 52 submissions that have helped to inform its views on the first two terms of the reference.Council dedicated a significant portion of the three day meeting towards finalising the first two terms of the reference.
Ms Pam Hemphill, in her new role with Families SA, gave a presentation to assist Council in its understanding of the child protection system from a state agency’s perspective. Council thanked Ms Hemphill for her presentation.
Ms Hannan lead a discussion on references 3 and 4 - the second stage of the report to the Attorney-General, due by 30 June 2016.

Presentation by Ms Kylie Beckhouse on her Churchill Fellowship experience and report

Ms Beckhouse gave an informal presentation on her experience in undertaking her Churchill Fellowship. She presented her findings and experiences with investigating the administration, delivery and current innovations in legal representation schemes for children in the USA and UK. Council thanked Ms Beckhouse for her informative and timely presentation as it assisted Council in its discussions for the TOR.

Updates from Observers and Attorney-General’s Department

The representatives from each of the attending observer agencies provided brief updates on current issues of significance to the Family Law Council. Topics covered included:the breadth of work being undertaken in the legal sector by the Family Law Section of the Law Council of Australia; the extensive work in the family services sector being conducted by FRSA; judicial resourcing and the workload of the Federal Circuit Court as well as the work being undertaken by the Child Dispute Service in the Family Court of Australia; changes in the Family Court of Western Australia including new practice directions for the Family Court of WA and the Children’s Court of WA to improve information sharing; judicial appointments, retirements and the creation of a National Co-Ordinating Appeal Registrar as well as issues on budget, structure and governance of the Family Court of Australia; andstaffing changes and the ongoing and completed research projects undertaken by AIFS. Ms Hemphill, representing Families SA, provided her update during her earlier presentation.

ACTION: (ii) Secretariat to circulate the CDS report to meeting participants for information.

Ms Tamsyn Harvey provided an update on behalf of the Attorney-General’s Department on current work priorities including:work on the binding financial agreement provisions in the Act; the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs Committee work on surrogacy; the CrimtracNational DVO information sharing system; extra funding provided for Children’s Contact Services; the national Family Violence Bench Book, and the Model Parenting Orders Handbook.

Walk in Their Shoes tour of the Family Court of WA

Council was privileged to be given the opportunity to attend the Walk in Their Shoes tour of the Family Court of Western Australia, hosted by the Family Law Pathways Network. The tour took meeting participants through the Court’s procedures and Court room proceedings.

Meeting close

Professor Rhoades as Chair, thanked participants and closed the meeting. The next meeting is scheduled to be held in Canberra on 22-23 October 2015.