Family Court fees hit vulnerable

New Family Court fees hidden in the Budget will penalise families when they are at their most vulnerable, says National's Families and Associate Justice spokeswoman Judith Collins.

She is commenting an announcement by Courts Minister Rick Barker, in which he said Family Court fees would rise because the court is dealing increasingly with property cases that are for private benefit.

Applications for property settlements go from nothing to $165 for filing, and from nothing to $585 per half day for hearings.

"The vast majority of the property cases dealth with in the Family Court are as a result of family breakups, and the only property normally involved is the family home," says Ms Collins.

"It is hard enough trying to keep children out of poverty when families have split, without taking more money out of the family home like this Government is doing.

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>