SECOND ANNUAL FAMILY RELATIONSHIP SERVICES AUSTRALIA

ATTORNEY-GENERAL
HON ROBERT McCLELLAND MP
SECOND ANNUAL FAMILY RELATIONSHIP SERVICES AUSTRALIA
NATIONAL CONFERENCE
SYDNEY
THURSDAY, 26 NOVEMBER 2009

Acknowledgements
First, may I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we meet on – and pay my respects to their elders, both past and present.

Introduction:

I am pleased to join you this afternoon to formally close the Family Relationship Services Australia second national conference.

The conference has provided an excellent opportunity for professionals who provide a range of family support services to come together.

The Government always seeks to work in partnership with the community sector to find better and more efficient ways to deliver effective outcomes for Australian families.

And the theme of this year’s conference, “Children and Families: Reducing Risk, Building Resilience”, is particularly relevant to that goal.

Supporting Families

There’s no doubt family breakdown is one of the most traumatic events a person can experience.

This is particularly so for children who are often caught in the middle of this conflict. Yet they are all too often the forgotten voice in family breakdown.

There has been a heightened focus on children in recent years.

More than ever we realise the importance of doing our very best to protect them and to look after their interests.

While we need to help children to cope with the breakdown of the relationship between their parents, we also need to continually remind parents to focus on their children rather than on their own conflict.

Providing this assistance to families and children is being done through a range of effective approaches across services.

This includes the invaluable role that family relationship services play in the family law system.

Taking Stock:

We have come a long way in terms of family relationship services.

Only last October the Government launched the last of the 65 Family Relationship Centres. Centres have been enormously successful in providing a ‘front door’ to the Australian family law system, and providing information and referral to support intact families.

The network of FRCs is enhanced by a telephone advice and dispute resolution service.

Over the past few days, this conference has also heard some excellent examples of how services and agencies are working together to achieve better outcomes for families.

Family Pathways Networks are a great example of professionals working together from a range of services to deliver better outcomes for families.

These Networks have enabled a better understanding of each other’s roles and responsibilities.

And they have helped build a greater level of trust and mutual respect amongst the various professions.

It has facilitated a wholistic approach. In particular, in order to resolve relationship issues it is often necessary to address underlying problems such as substance abuse, mental illness and dysfunctional budgetary management.

These Networks provide access to professionals with a range of specialities, and play a key role in supporting access to justice principles espoused by the Government.

Recommendations provided in the Strategic Framework for Access to Justice report, released in September, suggest a ‘no wrong number, no wrong door approach’ to providing assistance.

No matter which service a person turns to, it should be able to assist directly or through referring the person to another service that will be able to assist.

Further, the first point of contact service should help the person to make contact with the other service.

I understand that many services, in particular the Family Relationship Centres, already assist families by providing information and referrals.

I also understand that some Networks have developed local referral databases.

I encourage you to continue to build these relationships. They are essential to an effectively functioning family law system.

Future Work:

However, there is still more to be done.

It is always appropriate to critically think about areas where we can do better, to consider new areas that we should focus on.

The results of the various reviews into the family law system that are currently underway will be useful in informing our consideration of possible areas for reform.

For example, we know that a large number of the families accessing the Centres and the courts often present with a range of complicated problems – such as family violence, mental illness, and drug and alcohol abuse.

One of the key challenges for the future is how better to deal with these high needs clients, to help them access the services they need.

This will achieve more effective outcomes and reduce the risks these families and children face. And it will help build an underlying structure that will provide the best possible environment to support and nurture children.

Legal Assistance Trials

Another initiative which I regard as a priority for the system is the better integration of FRCs and legal assistance services.

Family relationship services, including those provided by the Centres, form a key element of the Australian family law system.

Access to Justice is a key right of all Australians, and the Government is keen to ensure that all Australians have appropriate access to justice if and when they need it.

Separating families often need both legal and non legal advice and support.

Based on my observations, I believe that in the past, there’s been too much of a divide between the help family relationship services provide and the assistance provided by the more formal elements of the family law system.

For some families, a misunderstanding about the law, their rights and obligations may be a blockage to reaching an agreement. Any settlement that is achieved should be consistent with legal rights – of all parties.

This is why I have recently changed the policy for Centres, to allow legal practitioners to work in partnership with Centres to provide legal advice to clients on-site.
This change in policy will allow lawyers, with the consent of an FRC, to provide information sessions, general advice, assistance with drafting documents, or representation during family dispute resolution sessions.

But this change in policy does not mean that the family dispute resolution process will become adversarial.

It means that clients will have an opportunity to reality test their options, and hopefully reach more sustainable agreements without having to go to court.

The Government remains committed to the non adversarial services offered by the Centres.

In July of this year I announced funding of $3.6 million to allow legal assistance services to work in partnership with Centres to deliver legal assistance services to Australian families.

I am pleased to advise that I have just written to all applicants advising them of the outcomes from this process.

I am confident that these pilots will ensure that separating families can become better aware of their rights and responsibilities through the provision of legal assistance and advice at Family Relationship Centres.

My view is that a greater understanding of the family law system will assist separating families to resolve their disputes and avoid the need to go to court, wherever possible.

The trial program will involve 64 Family Relationship Centres partnering with legal assistance services to enable separated or separating families to access early and targeted legal information and advice.

I am also pleased to announce that the scope of the program has now been expanded to a total of $4.2m for the trials this financial year.

The trials will be delivered jointly between Community Legal Centres, Legal Aid Commissions and the Centres, and are an example of the cooperation needed to deliver a truly integrated family law system.

I am particularly encouraged by the positive response from partnering agencies, with all proposals aiming to build better partnerships and greater collaboration between Family Relationship Centres and legal assistance services.

The types of legal services that will be provided at Centres will vary depending on the individual needs of each family.

This may include a combination of legal information sessions, specific legal advice, help with drafting consent orders, and lawyer assisted family dispute resolution.

The trials will also provide training and mentoring for lawyers and Centre staff across the country.

This is just one measure which I believe will enhance the services provided by Family Relationship Centres.

Need for Greater Integration

Going forward, I believe even stronger relationships can be forged across all parts of the family law system to help reduce the number of high conflict and entrenched cases.

It is important that families who are unable to resolve their differences are able to access court resources and services as early as possible.

It is also important that families are provided with the opportunity to move out of the courts and into appropriate services that may be able to better assist parents to resolve their disputes.

Following court processes, families may benefit from assistance through a range of services.

These may be necessary to help with managing conflict in the future, to have supervised time with their children, or to deal with specific issues such as anger management, or drug and alcohol problems.

Whether or not families receive the help they need, will depend largely on the level of cooperation between the courts and services, and the level of understanding of each other’s roles and processes.

It is not good enough that families are left without the support they need and are able to ‘fall between the cracks’.

It is our combined responsibility to work together more effectively to ensure this does not happen.

Conclusion

This conference has provided an opportunity to focus the importance of finding ways to reduce risk and build resilience in children and families.

I congratulate FRSA and the organising reference group for what I understand has been a very useful and successful conference.

I will certainly have regard to your deliberations.

I wish you all well in continuing to deliver valuable assistance to Australian families.

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SECOND ANNUAL FAMILY RELATIONSHIP SERVICES AUSTRALIA