Courts and family law services face less certainty amidst more pressure

23 November 2018

The Law Society of NSW welcomes the Federal Government’s commitment of $468 million in recurrent funding over three years for family relationship centres and other family law services.

However President of the Law Society of NSW Pauline Wright said a reduction in the funding period from five years up until 2019, to three years up until 2022, gave family law support services less certainty to plan for their future operations.

There also appeared to be no additional money provided for the services which remained $156 million annually, Ms Wright said.

"Family law services including family relationship centres, family consultants and the new parental management hearings can help families resolve disputes," Ms Wright said.

"But there are many circumstances in which recourse to the courts and the expertise of solicitors is the only viable option, including where there are complex disputes over assets, power imbalances in the relationships of parties or family violence."

Ms Wright said it was important the Government focused on initiatives that helped our courts provide accessible services for the resolution of family disputes.

NSW currently had a full complement of judges in NSW but this was no longer sufficient particularly given an increase in the jurisdiction of the Family Law Courts to cover surrogacy and same-sex and de facto relationships, Ms Wright said.

"This funding is unlikely to ease the chronic delays and the burdens upon current judges in the Family Law Courts much of which have arisen as a result of an increase in the complexity of matters, workloads and limited financial resources," she said.

Ms Wright said the Society was ready to contribute to the Australian Law Reform Commission’s comprehensive review into the family law system.

"We will continue working with the Law Council of Australia to seek reform to the system in the best interests of families and victims of family violence," she said.