For a safer system
KYLIE ADORANTI | June 17, 2009
Article from The Newcastle Star
Protesters campaigned for a safer family law system in Newcastle last week . . .
Local mothers, fathers, family violence workers and legal experts banded together last week to protest against the Australian family law system.
Angry about the lack of child safety and the silencing laws women are forced to endure through the family law system, protesters marched in silence through Hunter Street Mall to the Federal and State Courts and the Newcastle Police Station.
Their signs read "Kids deserve safe parents" and "Say no to domestic abuse."
Kids in Distress spokesperson Robyn Cotterell-Jones said women were not allowed to discuss family law matters with the media or make a complaint about magistrates, judges or their kids having unsafe access with criminal or violent fathers.
"We need to repeal these gagging laws and make it possible to expose these issues."
Ms Cotterell-Jones was referring to section 121 of the Family Law Act, which prohibits the media from reporting on family court proceedings.
She said women who had been victims of domestic violence were sometimes treated like they were the ones who had done something wrong.
King Street Lawyers family law solicitor, who is also a Newcastle Law Society member, Katherine Fielden said the section 121 law was important in protecting the privacy of the child and their family.
She also said she had never experienced a judge or magistrate treating a woman like they had done something wrong when they made a complaint about them.
"I have actually had clients who have had their matters heard again by a different magistrate after their complaint."
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