On 17 November 2017 the final report of the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory was delivered to the Commonwealth and Northern Territory governments. One of the major issues identified in the report was the lack of integration of the various infor...

The Victorian Crime Statistics Agency (CSA) has released data collected by Victoria Police about children who have witnessed or been exposed to family violence. The concerning statistics, which were released on 10 March 2021 indicate that child exposure to family violence remains a prominent issue t...

On 17 February 2021, the Federal Parliament passed the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia Act 2020 and the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Act 2020. The new Acts allow for the amalgamation of the Federal Circuit and Fami...

For those who have been involved in Family Law and in particular, matters which involve children, the Department of Health and Human Services Victoria (known in short as “DHHS”) is a familiar organisation. This department described itself as having “traditionally developed and delivered polici...

The recent decision of the Supreme Court of Queensland in Re a Declaration Regarding Medical Treatment for “A” [2020] QSC 389 has allowed puberty blocking medical treatment to commence with respect to a transgender child, without the consent of her father. In the case, the Mother of the child ap...

On 4 February 2021, LGBTIQA+ change and suppression practices (commonly known as ‘gay conversion therapy’) were banned in Victoria. Following a lengthy sitting in the Legislative Council, the Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill passed in the Victorian Parliament, 27 vot...

Senior Partner, Keturah Sageman looks at how the COVID-19 pandemic may affect some contractual relationships and impact the fairness of property settlements. Businesses and people are struggling to keep afloat in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Contract Law there are provisions to void contrac...

How will family law be affected by the new Brexit agreement? Perhaps overlooked when compared with the trade provisions in the European Union (“EU”) and United Kingdom trade agreement, is the impact the new Brexit agreement will have on the cross-border families existing on both sides of the Eng...

A beacon in the darkness for beleaguered families. With the last year spent in mixed states of lockdown across Australia, the continuing need for modernisation and specialisation when dealing with the risks of family violence has been more critical than ever. Changes are coming to the...

The Department of Health and Human Services (‘DHHS’) employs a standard whereby a child should only be removed from the care of his or her parent if there is an unacceptable risk of harm to the child. Unfortunately, there is no definition of ‘unacceptable risk of harm’ in the relevant legisl...