Greens seek full Family Court review

21 February 2001

The Green Party will oppose ACT MP Muriel Newman's bill which seeks to open the Family Court up to the media after receiving a firm committment from the Government that the review of the Family Court promised last year is well on track.

Green Party Justice Spokesperson Nandor Tanczos said that while Muriel Newman's bill identified some of the problems in the Family Court, it was an inadequate solution.

"The problems of the Family Court go way beyond the measures proposed in this bill, and include the waiting times for hearings, waiting times for mediation and counselling, lack of adequate data collection, training of judges, cost of proceedings and the enforcement of decisions" he said today.

"Supporting this bill to Select Committee while a review of the Family Court is still underway would be a slap in the face for those people who took the trouble to make a submission. It would also soak up time that could be better spent on developing a bill to address the full range of concerns."

"I have discussed this with the Attorney General and have had a firm commitment that the government will complete the review, identify solutions and take action on them this year" said Mr Tanczos.

"The Family Court needs a comprehensive review to address the systemic problems rather than simply importing a partial solution from Australia."

Nandor Tanczos MP: (04) 470 6716 or 025 246 5235 Gina Dempster, press secretary: (04) 470 6723 or 021 1265 289

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