TRANSFORMING THE FAMILY COURT 

Dear Prime Minister Anthony Albanese,

We urge you to stand with victim survivors of family law and family court post separation abuse. Family violence is a national disgrace. If we are to end violence against women and children within a generation, we must eliminate post separation systems’ abuse and control. 

We know that only 3% of separations enter the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (FCFCOA). The Chief Justice, Will Alstergren, has stated that 83% of these FCFCOA cases involve allegations of domestic violence. The family court too often becomes a haven for society’s most dangerous perpetrators, including child sex offenders. 

We know that perpetrators of domestic violence enjoy the court process and unethical family lawyers profit from this. The next logical step after so many inquiries and recommendations is to act to keep the perpetrator, and those whom enable them, in view. 

If we are truly trying to respond to and end family violence the family court is the problem, not the solution. 

We need to TRANSFORM it, not reform it! 

The Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia lacks the necessary capacity to investigate domestic violence and child abuse safely and adequately. It is adversarial by design, mimicking tactics of coercive control. 

Existing state courts and Child Protection are better equipped, yet family courts often override vital safety measures including protection orders, endangering victims further.

Your government has a unique opportunity to create world leading, courageous change in transforming how we respond to domestic violence.  While those benefiting financially from this system may resist change, the current situation is untenable.

We do not need more funding for services that merely help us navigate the trauma of the current family court system. Our current legal system resembles a competition focused on winning rather than uncovering the truth and ensuring justice. This leads to ongoing trauma and devastation for victims. 

We need to call out the systemic issues and implement real change. We need the truth to be told as the first step in the healing process for victim survivors. 

We advocate for restorative justice grounded in equality, respect, and safety and propose A NEW INQUISITORIAL SYSTEM, CO-CREATED WITH LIVED AND LIVING EXPERIENCE OF JUSTICE SYSTEM FAILURES. 

Victim survivors need the government to:

1. Establish a state based, federally funded, inquisitorial COERCIVE CONTROL TRIBUNAL, with a panel of domestic violence and trauma-informed experts to genuinely combat gendered violence by holding perpetrators accountable.
2. Hold an urgent INQUIRY INTO JUDICIAL MISCONDUCT within the current FCFCOA system.
3. Offer a NATIONAL APOLOGY to victim survivors of domestic violence harmed through post separation weaponisation of the FCFCOA.
4. Establish the promised INDEPENDENT FEDERAL JUDICIAL COMMISSION. 
5. Return all children weaponised by the perpetrator and wrongfully ordered to live in the sole custody of the perpetrator.
6. Compensate homes and assets wrongfully removed from victim survivors through post separation revenge debt and weaponisation of the FCFCOA.
7. Financially redress victims for trauma and suffering inflicted through the weaponisation of the FCFCOA.

Sincerely, 

Victim survivors and allies 

Please add your name or anonymously sign this petition to our Prime Minister. 

Please share to gather all the brave leaders and change makers’ names we can. In the meantime please feel free to copy this urgent request to send to your local councillor and your local state and federal MP. 

#EndFamilyCourtAbuse