About the Legislation and Courts Project
The Family Law Amendment (Shared Parental Responsibility) Act 2006 (Cth) introduced significant procedural and substantive changes to the legal framework for resolving parenting disputes following parental separation. The legislation is intended to influence the behaviour and attitudes of participants throughout the system - including parents, lawyers, family dispute resolution practitioners, family consultants and judges - in a range of ways. The legislation is integral to the achievement of the core policy objectives of the reforms, particularly those relating to shared-parental responsibility, protection from violence and abuse and non-court based resolution of parenting disagreements.
Key changes to the law and legal processes introduced by the Family Law Amendment (Shared Parental Responsibility) Act 2006 (Cth) include a presumption (meaning that this is the starting point for the court’s consideration) in favour of shared parental responsibility (or sharing decisions about children), an increased focus on protecting children from harm resulting from abuse, neglect and exposure to family violence and a more child-focused process for those disputes that do proceed to court.
The Legislation and Courts Project aims to examine the impact of these changes and includes a number of studies that will draw data from a variety of sources using a mixture of methodologies. The main components of the project are:
- a qualitative study based on interviews and group discussions with professionals in the family law system;
- an analysis of family law cases; and
- a repeat and extension of the national Family Lawyers Survey, first conducted in 2006 as part of the collection of "baseline" data prior to the introduction of the reforms.
Data for the qualitative study will be gathered through interviews with judicial officers and group discussions held with family law professionals such as registrars, Family Consultants, and lawyers, including general party representatives, Independent Children's Lawyers, Legal Aid lawyers and lawyers from community legal centres.
Data on how the legislation is being implemented in court decision-making will be the foundation of the case analysis. The perceptions of family lawyers on the impact of the changes to the law will be obtained through the repeated Family Lawyers Survey.