Fair play for divorced dads

Barbara Kay, National Post, Canada

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/04/03/barbara-kay-fair-play-for-divorced-dads/ Time spent with fathers is highly correlated with positive outcomes for children of broken marriages. Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin has commissioned a report aimed at overhauling Canada’s family-law system. Its recommendations, which will be officially released later this month, reportedly include strategies for streamlining the legal process, encouraging mediation and reducing litigation. [...]

‘Drama queen’ wife loses custody case

JANET FIFE-YEOMANS, The Daily Telegraph rerun in the Brisbane Courier Mail

A MOTHER who claimed her husband had been sexually abusing himself in front of their three children has lost custody of them. A detective who investigated the claims said in a confidential email that the mother was “a drama queen who is out to get her ex-husband”. Police and child protection authorities had found the [...]

Embassy set up Italian airlift

Harry Edwards, The Australian

  OFFICIALS at the Australian embassy in Italy — helping an Australian mother abduct her four girls — made last-minute flight changes in order to avoid detection by their Italian father, Channel Nine’s 60 Minutes claimed last night. The woman fled with her four Italian-born children to Australia from custody arrangements with her ex-husband in [...]

EDITORIAL: Families need action in courts

Editorial - Brisbane Courier Mail

    FAMILY Court Chief Justice Diana Bryant has been forced to make an awkward apology for hiring a comedy act that performed a lewd routine at a national law conference. Recommended Coverage Who paid for lewd act at Family Court meet? THE Family Court has been unable to say who paid for a lewd [...]

Family Court unable to say who paid for lewd comedy act at Family Court national conference

Jason Tin, Courier Mail, Brisbane

EDITORIAL: Families need action in courts FAMILY Court Chief Justice Diana Bryant has made an awkward apology for hiring a comedy act that performed a lewd routine at a national law conference. THE Family Court has been unable to say who paid for a lewd comedy act that offended senior judges at its national conference. [...]

Friends with benefits ‘not a relationship’

Emily Moulton, The Sunday Times

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/friends-with-benefits-not-a-relationship/story-e6frg6n6-1226499990321  A judge has ruled that a man and woman living together for 14 years as housemates and ‘friends with benefits’ did not have a defacto relationship. Source: Getty Images HAVING regular sex with a housemate does not mean you’re in a “relationship” – even if it last a decade, a WA judge has ruled.  [...]

Custody win for sperm donor father

Ainsley Pavey, Courier Mail, Brisbane

  Picture: Hornby Scott Source: The Daily Telegraph A SPERM donor who secretly fathered two girls in two Australian states four years apart will raise his eldest daughter and have sole rights to decide where she goes to school after winning a bitter custody dispute. The 47-year-old father’s identity is protected under the Family Law [...]

Media Watch on biased reporting -Italian girls return to father

Media Watch host Jonathan Holmes

  Watch Media Watch’s (Episode 37) view re Courier Mail’s reporting on the Italian girls from last night ABC TV: http://www.abc.net.au/iview/#/view/27390 The full transcript for the Media Watch coverage of “A private dispute turned national spectacular” can be accessed here: http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s3611123.htm But let’s move the focus to Queensland, and a distressing family court case which has [...]

Family Court orders children’s return to Italy – Mother’s uncontrolled behaviour causes havoc for children

Dwayne Grant, Gold Coast Bulletin

  LIKE many Australians, Sue Price was appalled by this week’s harrowing footage of an international custody dispute playing out at Brisbane Airport. While most public criticism has centred on the Family Court and Australian Federal Police for forcing four sisters to return to Italy against their will, the Men’s Rights Agency director has set [...]

Australian embassy in Rome helped girls flee to Australia

Mark Solomons, Kate Kyriacou, Brisbane Courier Mail

Traumatic: The mother of four sisters involved in an international custody dispute is comforted by a friend (left) at Brisbane International Airport as her girls are escorted onto a plane. Picture: Eddie Norbido Source: Supplied THE four sisters who were taken through Brisbane International Airport by AFP officers trying to put them on a flight [...]