NSW Government Response to Inquiry into Shared Parental Responsibility Legislation

The New South Wales Government’s response to the NSW Legislative Council Standing Committee on Law and Justice Inquiry into the impact of the Family Law Amendment (Shared Parental Responsibility) Act 2006 (Cth) was recently tabled in the NSW Parliament. The Government’s response includes a number of recommendations including:

That the NSW Government work with the Commonwealth Government to ensure that staff at Family Relationship Centres and accredited family dispute resolution practitioners are suitably trained and use appropriate screening tools in order to correctly identify cases involving family violence.

That the NSW Government work with the Commonwealth Government to establish protocols to enable appropriate NSW Government and non-government agencies to assist Family Relationship Centre staff and accredited family dispute resolution practitioners in dealing with cases involving family violence.

That the NSW Government contact the Commonwealth Government to discuss the option of adopting the NSW Legal Aid Commission’s alternative dispute resolution model at Family Relationship Centres so that NSW residents have the alternative of lawyer assisted mediation.

That the NSW Government discuss the appropriateness of the number and location of Family Relationship Centres with the Commonwealth Government, and request that further decisions about the locations of Family Relationship Centres be made in conjunction with relevant NSW Government agencies to ensure that the decisions are based on accurately identified population and demographic needs.

For a full copy of the report and the response, click here.