Spurious reasons for appalling injustice

This issue is not confined to Australia. In England, a new book, The Sex-Change Society by Melanie Phillips, published by the Social Market Foundation, claims that fathers are being routinely denied contact with their children on grounds produced by welfare officers that are so spurious as to be virtually incomprehensible. Here are some example: There was

Read More

Greg Wilton takes his own life 14-6-2000

Final days http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Wilton Wilton’s marriage broke down in early 2000, and rumours began to surface that he would soon resign. Then Wilton was found by police, distressed in a car with his two young children in the You Yangs, near Geelong as he was driving out of the national park. While the circumstances of the

Read More

Distraught MP to face court – 2000

http://www.theage.com.au/news/20000528/A22245-2000May27.htmlFederal Victorian Labor MP Greg Wilton will appear in the GeelongMagistrates Court tomorrow after being found in his car in a distressedstate with his young children on a lonely country road. Mr Wilton, 44, right, who holds the south-eastern suburbs seat of Isaacs,was taken to a psychiatric hospital after the incident in the You YangsNational

Read More

Problem Parents doing time “Letters”

For too long people suffering as a result of family separation have been
kept away from the public gaze. Your newspaper deserves praise for bringing
the heartache and tragedy of those who unfortunately find themselves as
clients of the Family Court and Child Support Agency to the fore. (‘Problem’
parents doing time – Focus, 8-9/4/00)

Read More

Silencing abuse victims compounds the abuse – 2000

 During the past month we have watched the Queensland minister for Families Youth and Community Care, Anna Bligh make political mileage out of the “boy in the box story”. This was the tragic case where a little boy was kept tied up in a cardboard box for three weeks. He suffered 80 cigarette burns to

Read More

Street protester beats judges at own game

The Family Court brought contempt charges against a father hostile to its decisions but, writes Bernard Lane, could not sustain them. [Picture of Alastair Nicholson. Caption: “Judged: Chief Justice Alastair Nicholson”] [Picture of Terry O’Gorman. Caption: “Jury, please: Terry O’Gorman] Half an hour after the collapse of the highly unusual contempt of court case against

Read More

Child-support reforms ‘unfair’

The promise of fairer child-support rules has been dashed by an unfair and restrictive regulation enforced by the Child Support Agency, according to the Men’s Rights Agency.
The law was changed last year to, among other things, allow paying parents to divert up to 25 per cent of their child support into benefits or services provided directly to their children.
But, by restricting payments to just eight approved categories, the Child Support Agency has been accused of undermining the will of Parliament and perpetuating the unfairness in the system.

Read More