LIBERAL POLICY

Response ‑ SA Lone Fathers Association

 

Thank you for the opportunity to provide your members with details of the Coalition's policy regarding the circumstances of fathers and children of separated marriages. The depth of concern expressed by men through organisations such as the Loan Fathers Association has reinforced the importance of this issue in the community in what is one of the most complex and difficult areas of public policy.

 

The Coalition recognises that some members of the community have become disillusioned and disheartened with the family law system in Australia. Although it is often impossible in situations of family breakdown to force parents to resolve their disputes reasonably and amicably, we believe we need to provide families with better ways of resolving relationship disputes and to reduce the emotional costs of conflict and separation. The Coalition is strongly committed to improving outcomes for separating families and ensuring that the focus is always on the best interests of the children involved.

 

That's why the Prime Minister established the House of Representatives Inquiry into Child Custody. The Inquiry undertook a comprehensive investigation into this area and delivered an excellent report, Every Picture Tells a Story, late last year, Full details of the outcomes of the Committee's review and the recommendations adopted by the Coalition Government can be found on the Prime Minister's website at: http://www.pm.gov.au/news/Media_releases/media_Release1030.html

 

As you will see from the Prime Minister's announcement, the Coalition is committed to implementing a significant proportion of the Committee's recommendations, In fact, the proposed reforms, when implemented, will be the most significant changes to the family law system since the commencement of the Family Law Act 1975. For example, the reforms will.

 

• Encourage families to resolve their disputes outside the adversarial court system before conflict becomes entrenched;

 

• Significantly expand counselling and mediation,

 

• Change the law to promote the meaningful involvement of both parents in their children's lives: and,

 

• Make shared parental responsibility the starting point in most litigated disputes.

 

Overall, the system will be easier, cheaper and less traumatic to navigate.

 

To further demonstrate the Coalition's strong commitment to implementing these reforms, a discussion paper will be released in the very near future providing the opportunity for further public debate and consideration of how this can be achieved.

 

The Coalition has also developed a number of programs through the Family Relationship Services Program. Many of these initiatives are specifically designed to support men and have been providing real and practical help to fathers and husbands experiencing the emotional strain of family breakdown. As part of its family law reforms, the government recently announced an immediate increase in funding of 30 per cent for these programs. A brief summary of some of the initiatives the Coalition Government has funded to support men is attached.

 

This is an extensive, but by no means complete, list of the initiatives introduced by the Coalition since coming to office in 1996,

 

The interests and needs of fathers have not been ignored by the Government. A number of changes have been made to the Child Support Scheme to make it more equitable and fairer to non‑custodial parents, the majority of whom are men. That is not to say more cannot be done. As part of our response to Every Picture Tells a Story, a ministerial taskforce is currently considering the operation of the Child Support Scheme and will report to the Government in March next year.

 

Supporting men in their role as fathers is important to our children, our community and its future. It has been, and remains, a priority of the Coalition.

 

 

 

Family Relationship Services Program Initiatives

 

·         Men and Family Relationships program (MFR) delivered by 44 agencies in more than 80 locations

 

‑     To assist men to manage a range of relationship difficulties with partners and ex‑partners, children and step‑children leading to reduced incidence of male suicide and family violence and contributing to increased child support compliance; and

 

‑      To help organisations develop more sensitive and responsive approaches to working with male clients.

 

·         Men's Line Australia ‑ a national 24 hour‑a‑day family relationships counselling service available for the cost of a local call on landline telephone services throughout‑‑Australia,‑providing

 

‑    counselling and services to men who are seeking to manage their relationships with partners,                      ex‑partners and children.

 

·         Contact Orders Program (COP) operating in five locations (Parramatta, NSW; Hobart; Perth". South‑East Queensland and Dandenong‑Outer Metropolitan Melbourne) with further plans for expansion

 

‑     To assist separating families where there is a high level of conflict around contact issues and offers these families child centred education, case management, counselling, mediation, and supervised visitation and/or changeover services.

 

·         Children's Contact Services (CCS) offered by 35 services across Australia

 

‑     To help the children of separated parents to re‑establish and maintain a relationship with their non‑resident father or mother where there is considerable conflict or concern about the safety of family members.

 

‑     To aid these families by offering a safe and neutral location for changeovers between resident and non‑resident parents, and for supervised contact visits,

 

·         Settlement Services for Migrants and Humanitarian Entrants ‑ Family Relationships Services ‑a new service funded in the 2004‑05 Budget to assist migrant and humanitarian entry families. It is anticipated these services will be in operation by April 2004.

 

·         Men's research funded under the FRSP includes:

 

‑     An evaluation of the Men and Family Relationships initiative undertaken between November 2000 and August 2002 which provided

essential underlying evidence of the success of services in engaging and supporting men in their family relationships.

 

‑      Funding provided to sponsor the Family Action Centre (University of Newcastle) in the development of the Fatherhood Research in Australia Report and a men's research seminar in 2003‑04,

 

‑     A report entitled 'Fitting Fathers into Families: Men and the fatherhood role in contemporary Australia'‑ a significant examination of the role of men as parents.

 

·         Stronger Families and Communities Strategy (SFCS) supporting more than 30 projects since 2000 giving families, their children and communities the opportunity to build a better future,

 

‑     an example is the Parenting Information project which received $250,000 for the production and distribution of father‑friendly posters to all services that assist parents‑, 'the development of a resource to assist professionals to better engage fathers; and the development of practice guidelines for inclusion of men in Family & Community Services funding agreements.

 

‑     Further support for fathers (with additional funding) will be provided through the Parenting Information Website, the hard copy resource for Australian parents and the community resource kit, Fathers are identified as a special target group in these initiatives.

 

• The Child Support Agency has also introduced a number of programs to specifically support men including.

 

‑     Staying Connected workplace pilots ‑ supports men through separation by helping them look after themselves; negotiate parenting issues; and most importantly, being the dad they want to be, even if they don't live with their children.

 

‑     'Me and My Money'‑ a booklet focussing on helping parents manage their money ‑ designed to be inclusive of men

 

‑     Direct Telephone Support Service in Queensland ‑ involves the offer of a telephone link between a parent and a community service organisation where the CSA officer will transfer the parent by telephone directly to the community service provider. Alternatively, parents can elect to be contacted by the community service provider at a later time, if an immediate referral is not practicable.

 

CSA staff can also make a priority DTSS referral for clients in some form of distress. This can be for parents who are threatening harm to themselves or others, parents in significant emotional distress, showing signs of mental illness or having complex counselling needs.

 

Note: 'the DTSS service does not replace CSA's security incident reporting process for parents who make threats against themselves or others.

 

More than 4000 parents have used the DTSS service since May 2003‑40% of whom are male.

 

-     Newly Separated Unemployed Parents Initiative (90% of eligible clients are men) including

 

• Demonstration pilots involving two Job Network members in Melbourne and Brisbane

 

• Payer Contact Training for all CSA New Client staff members (run by Crisis Support Services)

 

• Men and Separation Booklet (Mensline and RA‑publication) purchased for distribution to target audience and new clients of CSA

 

• Interim telephone service offered ‑ with mail out of three publications‑ Men and Separation, Me and My Kids, Me and My Money

 

• Links on Australian Job Search website to parenting/reiationship information

 

• A continuation of many of these initiatives has been funded in 2004‑05 including the next step in rolling out of Direct Telephone Support Service and expanding the Newly Separated Unemployed Parents Initiative to include a face‑to‑face component, exploring the use of the Commonwealth Rehabilitation Service, wider use of Job Network members and internet services.

ALP POLICY

 

 

> Bob Tuddenham phoned me this morning and asked for some info regarding
> Labor policy. I have been runn off my feet all day and only now had a
> chance. However, I have written the following lines for you regarding
> Labor policy of relevance to Lonefathers:
>
> The Family Court needs reform.  We need to keep lawyers out of the
> process where we can and encourage non-adversarial, cheap and quick
> settlements of family law cases.  Some of the Government's recent
> announcements such as the creation of Family Relationship Centres and
> the focus on parenting plans seem to be a step in the right direction
> but more can be done.  Labor backbenchers have contributed to the work
> of the Parliamentary Committee which recently examined these issues and
> which, among a range of matters, also consideed the merits of a Families
> Tribunal.  Labor is considering all of these options.
>
> It is important that when families separate, children particularly boys,
> retain strong male role models in their lives.  That is why Mark Latham
> has spoken about the crisis in masculinity and developed a national
> mentoring plan to help address these issues.
>
> Regards,
>
> ALP Information Unit
> www.alp.org.au
>