Pursue amendments to the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) through the Council of Australia Governments Law, Crime and Community Safety Council

As part of our approach, the Department of Justice and Regulation is pursuing necessary amendments to the Family Law Act (Cth), by:

• advocating for change through the Council of Australian Governments (COAG)
• considering the funding and resourcing implications of the proposed amendments to the Family Law Act for Victorian agencies
• the Attorney-General raising the proposed amendments with the Commonwealth Attorney-General and proposing that they be placed on the Law, Crime and Community Safety Council (LCCSC) agenda, as any amendments will also have an impact on other states and territories

In August 2016, the Premier wrote to the Prime Minister proposing to raise recommendations from the Royal Commission into Family Violence at the forthcoming Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting, including this recommendation. The Premier advocated the need for a strong, coordinated effort through COAG to drive the level of national reform needed to ensure that women and children are kept safe.

In addition, the Premier led a delegation of experts from the Victorian family violence sector to attend the COAG Summit on reducing violence against women and children, held on 28 October 2016 in Brisbane. At the Summit, the Premier advocated for national reform on family violence, including to the Family Law Act 1975. COAG agreed that the national actions recommended by the Royal Commission into Family Violence would be on the agenda at the December COAG meeting. This includes Recommendation 131.

The Premier brought a paper to COAG in December 2016 pursuing this recommendation. COAG agreed to task LCCSC (led jointly by Victoria and the Commonwealth) with considering options for:

• ensuring that injunctions made by the Federal Court are enforced by state police - removing the onus from the victim to undertake costly family law proceedings
• increasing the monetary limit on the jurisdiction of the Magistrates' Court of Victoria to divide the property of parties to a marriage or a de facto relationship, enabling parties to resolve matters in only one court
• making it clear that the Children's Court of Victoria can make orders under Part VII of the Family Law Act in the same circumstances as the Magistrates' Court of Victoria

In December 2016, the Commonwealth Government released an Exposure Draft of the Family Law Amendment (Family Violence and Other Measures) Bill 2017, which includes the amendments proposed in recommendation 131.

On 19 May 2017, LCCSC agreed to establish a working group of justice officials to develop measures to improve the interaction between the federal family law, and state child protection and family violence systems. Topics for the family violence working group to consider include:

• information sharing between the family law, family violence, and child protection systems
• risk identification and assessment in the justice system
• proposed amendments to the Family Law Act contained in the Exposure Draft of the Family Law Amendment (Family Violence and Other Measures) Bill 2017
• legislative and other protections for vulnerable witnesses in family law and family violence matters, and
• improving family violence competency for professionals working in the family law and family violence systems

This recommendation is implemented.