Australian Suicide Victim “Hounded” Over Child Support

It was “a tragic indictment of the system” that a Canberra man had committed suicide holding a letter of demand from the Child Support Agency, the ACT Coroners Court was told yesterday. Barrister Richard Thomas said the receipt of the letter two days before Warren Gilbert’s death in August had “tipped him over the edge”.

Read More

Australian Suicide Victim “Hounded” Over Child Support

It was “a tragic indictment of the system” that a Canberra man had committed suicide holding a letter of demand from the Child Support Agency, the ACT Coroners Court was told yesterday.
Barrister Richard Thomas said the receipt of the letter two days before Warren Gilbert’s death in August had “tipped him over the edge”.

Read More

Change is essential to the child support formula

It will be a tragedy if the current moves to change the child support system are thwarted in the Senate, writes Bettina Arndt .
The latest attempt to reform child support is in trouble, with Labor and Democrat senators refusing to pass key government amendments. Talks continue but it seems unlikely the Government will overcome Opposition resistance to dividing the costs of children more fairly between separated parents.

Read More

Gloves off in battle of sexes

WOMEN are becoming more violent towards their partners – and have overtaken men as aggressors in relationships. A study based on an analysis of 34,000 men and women by a British academic has indicated that women are more violent than men. The report does not play down domestic violence by men, which is more likely

Read More

Estimating the Costs of Contact for Non-resident Parents

The research establishes that the costs of exercising contact will often be relatively high. For
example, where contact with one child is for 20% of the nights of the year, the cost of this
contact represents about 40% of the total yearly costs of raising that child in an intact couple
household with a medium income, and more than half the total yearly costs of that child in a
household with a low income.

Read More

Men’s Group Outrage – 2001 Family Law Pathways Group

A  national men’s lobby group slammed the Federal Government’s latest family law review, claiming fathers would not be consulted or represented during deliberations……. Men’ Rights Agency director Sue Price said men’s rights groups were not invited to voice their views during the consultation period or represented on the government appointed Family Law Pathways Advisory Group

Read More

MRA Submission to the Family Law Pathways Group September 2000

When the Family Law Pathways Group was first announced, many eagerly awaited more detail, especially the names of those, who would participate in the forum. For the first time we thought the Government may be on the right track and would appoint a good cross-section of people from all the interested parties – those representing

Read More

Dwelling Choices for the Children of Separated Parents

The trend is, however, undoubtedly that more and more decisions on joint custody are going to be handed down. This can, as the Swedish Vårdnadstvistutredningen (1995) points out, lead to parents, in the future, disputing the children’s dwelling place rather than who has legal custody. This makes it much more important for all the participants, (in the counselling and/or processes of decision making about the dwelling place for children of broken relationships), to base their conclusions and operations on scientific knowledge and proven experience. Lassbo (1994) states that with regards to the family structure’s effect on children’s development, there is too little empirical knowledge and too much guesswork and theorizing.

Read More