Oct. 19 was a dark day in Australia’s social history—our Parliament voted for more fatherless children.
Labor’s draconian family law bill became law, removing almost every word from previous legislation which promoted children’s rights to care from both parents after divorce.
This brave new law sets aside many decades of international evidence showing it is harmful for children to grow up without both parents.
That mighty legal reform, which had bipartisan support, has now been totally swept aside.
Labor hustled the bill through Parliament last week as Australia was distracted by the referendum results, after cutting short the usual extensive scrutiny required for such a massive change.
The process was fuelled by Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, who wrongly claimed the changes had the support of numerous previous inquiries.
As an example, Mr. Dreyfus justified removing the key “equal shared parental responsibility” clause by claiming it fooled daft dads into thinking that they might just be entitled to equal time with their own kids.
It’s true that various inquiries, including the Australian Law Reform Commission, had pointed out there was sometimes confusion, but they simply suggested changing the language, not tossing out the whole thing.
So How Did They Get Away With It?
Well, for decades feminist ideologues have been manipulating the family law system by claiming that all women and “their” children are at risk of attack by violent ex-partners.They’ve succeeded brilliantly in hushing up the key statistic that refutes the claim that so many dads pose a risk to their children—namely that 1.2 percent of women are physically assaulted by their male partner or ex-parent each year in Australia, according to the most recent 2016 Personal Safety survey. Physical violence is blessedly rare.
Even though violence orders are commonplace for many of the tiny numbers (less than 5 percent) of couples who actually appear before the Family Court, these families are not the norm.
What matters most is the impact of family law legislation on decisions made about parenting by ordinary separating couples who don’t battle it out in court.
Now these couples are to be told the imperative is keeping children safe and that means putting care of children firmly back into female hands.
Look at this press release from Women’s Legal Services Australia, congratulating Mr. Dreyfus on the bill, which was circulated within minutes of the vote going through:
“We strongly support reform of the Family Law Act to make the law clearer and fairer, including the removal of the presumption of equal shared parental responsibility to improve safety.”
It’s another superb victory for the feminists, one more achievement for their mighty domestic violence juggernaut, which has already stacked the family law system to favour women.
Currently, all it takes is one vague claim that violence could occur, requiring zero supportive evidence, to set in train a sequence of events; starting with dad being removed from the home, denied contact with children, and, if he’s lucky, paying big money to see his own children in our draconian supervised contact services.
Self-interested mums gain all the perks, benefits, and supports that come with victim status. It’s totally irresistible.
False Allegations on the Rise
In a new YouGov survey, involving 9,432 people across eight countries, Australia came out as the worst country, after India, when people were asked if they had been falsely accused of abuse.Overall, the survey showed about 73 percent of victims of false allegations in this country are male and almost a third (30 percent) of people surveyed know a victim of false allegations made in the last year.
Magistrates Courts are overwhelmed with false violence accusations, which most magistrates have acknowledged are being used to gain strategic advantage in child custody matters.
A survey of 38 magistrates in Queensland found 74 percent agreed restraining orders are often used for tactical purposes.
Similarly, 90 percent of 68 New South Wales magistrates agreed restraining orders are often sought as tactical devices in family law disputes, “serving to deprive former partners of contact with their children.”
That’s the current reality. But now, things are going to get far worse.
Weak Opposition
Mr. Dreyfus has even announced a new bill next year promising a greater share of the marital assets to victims of violence. How’s that for a powerful financial incentive to add to the massive handouts already available to alleged victims?Getting the current bill through Parliament proved a breeze for the government. These momentous changes sailed through the lower house.
Not a single word was spoken by MPs about false allegations. It was up to brave Pauline Hanson in the Senate to acknowledge the elephant in the room.
The Opposition introduced some pretty feeble amendments, trying unsuccessfully to reintroduce some of the parenting sections of the bill.
Yet, in the end, they sold us out.
When it came to a vote, the bill went through, with the Greens, Independent MP David Pocock, and Jacqui Lambie’s group, all happily supporting Labor.
The Opposition may well claim they’ll stand up and be counted when they get back in power—they just need to avoid attracting feminist wrath until then.
But should we trust them after the Morrison government’s apology to Brittany Higgins and endless kowtowing to the women’s lobby?
People need to know what’s happened here.
These changes to the law will bring poorer outcomes for children, a fresh flood of new accusations against fathers, more conflict between divorced parents, a huge surge in litigation as men pay out to try to see their children, and more suicides for men as they realise that their chances of a fair hearing in an already biased court system will now be further reduced.
All bad news, unless you are a feminist.
