LSB September 2021 LR

FAMILY LAW
Child Dispute Services and Court
Child Experts
The Court’s specialist service formerly
known as Child Dispute Services is now
known as the Court Children’s Service
(CCS), and Child Dispute Services staff
are now known as Court Child Experts.
This reflects the additional responsibilities
that CCS staff conduct in addition
to their roles as Family Consultants,
including undertaking confidential dispute
resolution events with Judicial Registrars
and confidential risk screening as part
of the Lighthouse Project. There are
also changes to assessments and reports
provided by the CCS. The section 11F
assessment has been replaced by a more
fulsome report known as a Child Impact
Report which will be designed to assist
the parties in parenting matters to reach
agreement wherever possible, and to
provide expert guidance to the Court for
interim hearings. For matters that proceed
to the trial preparation phase, the family
report model will remain available, with
additional options available, including
reports in relation to specific issues, and
addendum reports building on the original
Child Impact Report. Further details
on the CCS are available from the new
website.
MIGRATION AND GENERAL FEDERAL
LAW JURISDICTION OF DIVISION 2 OF
THE FCFCOA
The migration and general federal law
jurisdiction continues to be conducted by
Division 2 of the FCFCOA.
Other than some minor changes to
Court Rules and forms, there are no
substantial changes to the previous (FCC)
pathway or appeal process involving
migration and other general federal law
matters.
General Federal Law Rules and
Practice Directions for Division 2
The Federal Circuit Court Rules 2001
(FCC Rules) were made pursuant to the
Federal Circuit Court of Australia Act 1999
(Cth). As the Federal Circuit and Family Court
of Australia (Consequential Amendments and
Transitional Provisions) Act 2021 repealed the
Federal Circuit Court of Australia Act 1999
(Cth) in its entirety, all rules of court made
under that Act lapsed on 1 September
2021. Consequently, the FCC Rules that
relate to general federal law proceedings
as well as the FCC Bankruptcy Rules have
been updated and remade. It should be
noted that there will not be a great deal of
difference in the new Rules at this stage
for general federal law cases.
Two central practice directions have
been developed for migration proceedings
and general federal law proceedings in the
FCFCOA. These, as well as other details,
including a cross-reference table comparing
the previous Federal Circuit Court rules
with the new GFL and Bankruptcy rules,
are available on the new FCFCOA website.
Winter Callovers
The information above relates to
the new Court and its case management
systems. However, there is a legacy of
cases that have been in our family law
system for some time, often too long
and at too much expense and stress to
the parties involved. To help reduce the
backlog of this legacy of cases, prior to
the commencement of the FCFCOA, the
Family Court and Federal Circuit Court
conducted a Winter Callover in Adelaide,
Brisbane, Melbourne, Parramatta, Lismore
and Sydney. Approximately 7000 cases
were bought before the Courts across all
locations (by electronic means) to assist
parties to identify, narrow and resolve
matters in dispute with appropriate cases
being referred to mediation and family
dispute resolution. Many of these have
been provided by the Court’s in-house
experts, and some by retired Judges who
volunteered to conduct private settlement
conferences on a pro bono or limited cost
basis. I thank those former Judges, and
also the many barristers and solicitors who
made themselves available to parties to
provide private mediations.
I appreciate that this initiative may
have presented some challenges but I
wish to re-iterate the Court’s focus on the
benefits to the parties who can resolve
their issues without protracted and
acrimonious litigation. Whilst the process
is continuing, the Winter Callover has
already seen many long standing cases
settle, others continuing to negotiate
towards settlement, and in others, the
issues in dispute are being narrowed.
I am, on behalf of the Court, extremely
grateful for the support that has been
provided by the local Bar Associations,
Law Societies, as well as legal aid and other
community legal assistance services.
Conclusion
I invite the profession to join me,
and the Court, in our endeavour to
make the most of this opportunity and
to improve access to justice for the
Australian community. We can achieve
this by streamlining the family law system
and making it far easier for the public to
navigate and engage with. Importantly, we
need to focus on safety and minimising
acrimonious and expensive litigation
by encouraging and providing dispute
resolution opportunities. Critically, in
family law, we need to change the culture
and conversation and work towards
providing a world-leading family law
system that places children, litigants and
their safety at the heart of the process. B
September 2021 THE BULLETIN 31