Child support laws
Background 12. The Child Support Scheme (CSS) was established in 1988 to enforce the right of children to be supported by both their parents.[2] The legislative basis of the CSS is the Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act and the Child Support (Assessment) Act. The Child Support Agency (CSA) administers these Acts. The CSA is …
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Read moreIssues with the laws of discovery
2.35 This part of the chapter discusses the issues that may arise in federal courts with respect to a party’s obligation to give discovery and the scope of discoverable documents. Concerns with these aspects of discovery laws have been singled out by academic commentaries, law reform bodies and stakeholders consulted in the early stages of …
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Read more14. Homicide Defences and Family Relationships in Criminal Laws
Recommendation 14–1 State and territory criminal legislation should ensure that defences to homicide accommodate the experiences of family violence victims who kill, recognising the dynamics and features of family violence. Recommendation 14–2 State and territory governments should review their defences to homicide relevant to family violence victims who kill. Such reviews should: cover defences specific …
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Read moreInformation flow to the family law system
30.10 As discussed in Chapter 15, the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) sets out detailed considerations to which a family court must have regard in deciding whether to make a particular parenting order. The ‘paramount consideration’ in this regard is ‘the best interests of the child’.[5] Pursuant to s 60CC, the primary considerations for determining …
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Read moreFDR in family law legislation
21.18 This section sets out the legislative provisions regulating the use of FDR in the Family Law Act. Different regimes apply to FDR in relation to parenting orders and financial disputes. There are also some general provisions in the Family Law Act that govern FDR. FDR and parenting orders21.19 The 2006 reforms to the Family …
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Read moreConcurrent proceedings under family violence laws and the criminal law
11.3 The family violence legislation of most states and territories expressly recognises that there can be concurrent criminal and civil proceedings.[2] For example, s 62 of the Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act 1989 (Qld) provides that an application can be made and dealt with under the Act notwithstanding that a person concerned in the …
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Read moreCriminal law
4.73 Where family law disputes are regarded as ‘private’ disputes, involving litigation between individual litigants, criminal law—like child protection law—is ‘public’ in the sense that the state has a clear role to play in the investigation and prosecution of offences. It has been said that the criminal law is designed to maintain the social order …
Publications
Read more14. Homicide Defences and Family Relationships in Criminal Laws
Recommendation 14–1 State and territory criminal legislation should ensure that defences to homicide accommodate the experiences of family violence victims who kill, recognising the dynamics and features of family violence. Recommendation 14–2 State and territory governments should review their defences to homicide relevant to family violence victims who kill. Such reviews should: cover defences specific …
Publications
Read moreProgram 1.1 Conducting inquiries into aspects of Australian laws and related processes for the purposes of law reform.
In conducting its inquiries the ALRC consults broadly with relevant stakeholders and experts interested in each area under review and researches and analyses the legal, social and administrative issues raised during the course of these consultations. As required by its Act, the ALRC also has regard to relevant international obligations; the potential impact of its …
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Read moreThe Relationship Between the Judiciary and Law Reform Bodies
Justice Susan Kenny, Federal Court of Australia, Part-time Commissioner, Australian Law Reform Commission, addressing the Australasian Law Reform Agencies Conference (ALRAC) in Brisbane.9 September 2010The relationship between the judiciary and law reform agencies has many dimensions. Even the assertion that there is a relationship provokes the questions—when? where? between whom specifically? Are we speaking about …
News/Media Release
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