Family law reform to stop pets being weaponised
Law reforms will stop family pets from being used to continue carrying out domestic violence when relationships break down.
The changes came into effect on Tuesday, and build on previous amendments made by the Albanese government to family law in its first term.
The new legislation provides a specific framework for deciding ownership of pets and preventing the use of animals to continue to perpetrate violence.
The reforms also give family law courts a new power to help stop sensitive information being viewed or used as evidence in proceedings where the harm in doing so outweighs the need for it.
The economic impacts impacts of family violence will be considered when property and finances are being divided between separated couples.
The government said the changes highlight Labor's strong commitment to addressing and ending the scourge.
The Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia will be funded to expand their world-leading initiative called the Lighthouse model, which improves risk screening, triage and assessment of family law matters.
Information sharing arrangements to protect families against safety risks and the wellbeing of children being placed at the centre of all parenting decisions, were established under previous amendments made by Labor.
Attorney-General Michelle Rowland said the changes strengthened deterrence while supporting fairer outcomes.
"These once-in-a-generation reforms aim to support victim-survivors of family violence to get a fairer outcome in family law matters and prevent long-term disadvantage," she said.
"The Albanese government thanks all those involved in the development and implementation of these vital reforms, particularly victim-survivors and family law professionals who shared their stories to inspire change."
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
Lifeline 13 11 14
Men's Referral Service 1300 766 491
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Advertiser
37 minutes ago
- The Advertiser
Independents unite to demand home support for 20,000 after aged care delay
In their first flex of group political muscle since the federal election, Australia's independent MPs have teamed up to call on the government to fund - within weeks - at least 20,000 extra aged care home support packages. The government announced in early June it was delaying by five months big changes to aged care, which had been due to start mid-year, to give service providers more time to prepare. But 10 crossbenchers have teamed up to express concern about the impact of the postponement on the nearly 83,000 elderly Australians on the waiting list for home care. "Research shows that the longer people go without appropriate home care supports, the higher their risk of injury or hospitalisation," the MPs said in a June 10 letter to Health Minister Mark Butler and Aged Care Minister Sam Rae. "This delay will also imperil your government's commitment that by 2027 no one will wait more than 90 days for a package. "On behalf of people in our communities, we are calling on the Albanese government to, at a minimum, fund 20,000 new packages to commence on 1 July 2025 under the current home care packages scheme, which can then be rolled over onto the new support at home program when it eventually commences," the letter reads. The call for bridging support to cover the delay is supported by both Council on the Ageing (COTA) and the Older Persons Advocacy Network. "I regularly have families contacting me about the excessively long wait times for home care packages," ACT independent senator David Pocock said. "We can't afford to delay this further." Dr Helen Haines, the member for Indi in north-east Victoria, said waiting times were lengthened by a lack of qualified people to provide care in regional areas. "We also can't delay the rollout of a pricing framework that fairly reflects the travel costs to deliver care in rural areas," she said. Any setback for older people who wanted to stay at home was "unacceptable", Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie said. "Both sides of politics have dropped the ball on this issue over the last ten years," she said. "What the minister calls 'a brief deferral' will directly impact the lives of older Australians." Sydney-based Allegra Spender said she had heard "heartbreaking" stories of elderly people forced into nursing homes due to the long wait for assistance at home, while Dr Monique Ryan in Melbourne said "older Australians shouldn't suffer because of the aged care system's failures". Andrew Gee, the newly re-elected independent MP for Calare in NSW, also put his name to the letter in a sign the former National - who quit the party over its opposition to the Indigenous Voice to Parliament - will work with the so-called teals in this parliament. The other signatories were Sydney's Dr Sophie Scamps and Zali Steggall, Andrew Wilkie from Tasmania, and Kate Chaney from Western Australia. Given Labor's thumping majority win at the May election, the independents will have less sway in this parliament, but the letter is the first indication they will nonetheless use their numbers to lobby together. Home care packages are a form of commonwealth assistance designed to help people aged 65 and over to stay at home longer by providing assistance with household tasks, personal care and some medical care, such as that provided by nurses. The government has pledged to switch to a $5.6 billion "support at home" system, promising to be "the greatest improvement to aged care in 30 years" designed to slash waiting lists. The health minister's office has been contacted for comment. In their first flex of group political muscle since the federal election, Australia's independent MPs have teamed up to call on the government to fund - within weeks - at least 20,000 extra aged care home support packages. The government announced in early June it was delaying by five months big changes to aged care, which had been due to start mid-year, to give service providers more time to prepare. But 10 crossbenchers have teamed up to express concern about the impact of the postponement on the nearly 83,000 elderly Australians on the waiting list for home care. "Research shows that the longer people go without appropriate home care supports, the higher their risk of injury or hospitalisation," the MPs said in a June 10 letter to Health Minister Mark Butler and Aged Care Minister Sam Rae. "This delay will also imperil your government's commitment that by 2027 no one will wait more than 90 days for a package. "On behalf of people in our communities, we are calling on the Albanese government to, at a minimum, fund 20,000 new packages to commence on 1 July 2025 under the current home care packages scheme, which can then be rolled over onto the new support at home program when it eventually commences," the letter reads. The call for bridging support to cover the delay is supported by both Council on the Ageing (COTA) and the Older Persons Advocacy Network. "I regularly have families contacting me about the excessively long wait times for home care packages," ACT independent senator David Pocock said. "We can't afford to delay this further." Dr Helen Haines, the member for Indi in north-east Victoria, said waiting times were lengthened by a lack of qualified people to provide care in regional areas. "We also can't delay the rollout of a pricing framework that fairly reflects the travel costs to deliver care in rural areas," she said. Any setback for older people who wanted to stay at home was "unacceptable", Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie said. "Both sides of politics have dropped the ball on this issue over the last ten years," she said. "What the minister calls 'a brief deferral' will directly impact the lives of older Australians." Sydney-based Allegra Spender said she had heard "heartbreaking" stories of elderly people forced into nursing homes due to the long wait for assistance at home, while Dr Monique Ryan in Melbourne said "older Australians shouldn't suffer because of the aged care system's failures". Andrew Gee, the newly re-elected independent MP for Calare in NSW, also put his name to the letter in a sign the former National - who quit the party over its opposition to the Indigenous Voice to Parliament - will work with the so-called teals in this parliament. The other signatories were Sydney's Dr Sophie Scamps and Zali Steggall, Andrew Wilkie from Tasmania, and Kate Chaney from Western Australia. Given Labor's thumping majority win at the May election, the independents will have less sway in this parliament, but the letter is the first indication they will nonetheless use their numbers to lobby together. Home care packages are a form of commonwealth assistance designed to help people aged 65 and over to stay at home longer by providing assistance with household tasks, personal care and some medical care, such as that provided by nurses. The government has pledged to switch to a $5.6 billion "support at home" system, promising to be "the greatest improvement to aged care in 30 years" designed to slash waiting lists. The health minister's office has been contacted for comment. In their first flex of group political muscle since the federal election, Australia's independent MPs have teamed up to call on the government to fund - within weeks - at least 20,000 extra aged care home support packages. The government announced in early June it was delaying by five months big changes to aged care, which had been due to start mid-year, to give service providers more time to prepare. But 10 crossbenchers have teamed up to express concern about the impact of the postponement on the nearly 83,000 elderly Australians on the waiting list for home care. "Research shows that the longer people go without appropriate home care supports, the higher their risk of injury or hospitalisation," the MPs said in a June 10 letter to Health Minister Mark Butler and Aged Care Minister Sam Rae. "This delay will also imperil your government's commitment that by 2027 no one will wait more than 90 days for a package. "On behalf of people in our communities, we are calling on the Albanese government to, at a minimum, fund 20,000 new packages to commence on 1 July 2025 under the current home care packages scheme, which can then be rolled over onto the new support at home program when it eventually commences," the letter reads. The call for bridging support to cover the delay is supported by both Council on the Ageing (COTA) and the Older Persons Advocacy Network. "I regularly have families contacting me about the excessively long wait times for home care packages," ACT independent senator David Pocock said. "We can't afford to delay this further." Dr Helen Haines, the member for Indi in north-east Victoria, said waiting times were lengthened by a lack of qualified people to provide care in regional areas. "We also can't delay the rollout of a pricing framework that fairly reflects the travel costs to deliver care in rural areas," she said. Any setback for older people who wanted to stay at home was "unacceptable", Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie said. "Both sides of politics have dropped the ball on this issue over the last ten years," she said. "What the minister calls 'a brief deferral' will directly impact the lives of older Australians." Sydney-based Allegra Spender said she had heard "heartbreaking" stories of elderly people forced into nursing homes due to the long wait for assistance at home, while Dr Monique Ryan in Melbourne said "older Australians shouldn't suffer because of the aged care system's failures". Andrew Gee, the newly re-elected independent MP for Calare in NSW, also put his name to the letter in a sign the former National - who quit the party over its opposition to the Indigenous Voice to Parliament - will work with the so-called teals in this parliament. The other signatories were Sydney's Dr Sophie Scamps and Zali Steggall, Andrew Wilkie from Tasmania, and Kate Chaney from Western Australia. Given Labor's thumping majority win at the May election, the independents will have less sway in this parliament, but the letter is the first indication they will nonetheless use their numbers to lobby together. Home care packages are a form of commonwealth assistance designed to help people aged 65 and over to stay at home longer by providing assistance with household tasks, personal care and some medical care, such as that provided by nurses. The government has pledged to switch to a $5.6 billion "support at home" system, promising to be "the greatest improvement to aged care in 30 years" designed to slash waiting lists. The health minister's office has been contacted for comment. In their first flex of group political muscle since the federal election, Australia's independent MPs have teamed up to call on the government to fund - within weeks - at least 20,000 extra aged care home support packages. The government announced in early June it was delaying by five months big changes to aged care, which had been due to start mid-year, to give service providers more time to prepare. But 10 crossbenchers have teamed up to express concern about the impact of the postponement on the nearly 83,000 elderly Australians on the waiting list for home care. "Research shows that the longer people go without appropriate home care supports, the higher their risk of injury or hospitalisation," the MPs said in a June 10 letter to Health Minister Mark Butler and Aged Care Minister Sam Rae. "This delay will also imperil your government's commitment that by 2027 no one will wait more than 90 days for a package. "On behalf of people in our communities, we are calling on the Albanese government to, at a minimum, fund 20,000 new packages to commence on 1 July 2025 under the current home care packages scheme, which can then be rolled over onto the new support at home program when it eventually commences," the letter reads. The call for bridging support to cover the delay is supported by both Council on the Ageing (COTA) and the Older Persons Advocacy Network. "I regularly have families contacting me about the excessively long wait times for home care packages," ACT independent senator David Pocock said. "We can't afford to delay this further." Dr Helen Haines, the member for Indi in north-east Victoria, said waiting times were lengthened by a lack of qualified people to provide care in regional areas. "We also can't delay the rollout of a pricing framework that fairly reflects the travel costs to deliver care in rural areas," she said. Any setback for older people who wanted to stay at home was "unacceptable", Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie said. "Both sides of politics have dropped the ball on this issue over the last ten years," she said. "What the minister calls 'a brief deferral' will directly impact the lives of older Australians." Sydney-based Allegra Spender said she had heard "heartbreaking" stories of elderly people forced into nursing homes due to the long wait for assistance at home, while Dr Monique Ryan in Melbourne said "older Australians shouldn't suffer because of the aged care system's failures". Andrew Gee, the newly re-elected independent MP for Calare in NSW, also put his name to the letter in a sign the former National - who quit the party over its opposition to the Indigenous Voice to Parliament - will work with the so-called teals in this parliament. The other signatories were Sydney's Dr Sophie Scamps and Zali Steggall, Andrew Wilkie from Tasmania, and Kate Chaney from Western Australia. Given Labor's thumping majority win at the May election, the independents will have less sway in this parliament, but the letter is the first indication they will nonetheless use their numbers to lobby together. Home care packages are a form of commonwealth assistance designed to help people aged 65 and over to stay at home longer by providing assistance with household tasks, personal care and some medical care, such as that provided by nurses. The government has pledged to switch to a $5.6 billion "support at home" system, promising to be "the greatest improvement to aged care in 30 years" designed to slash waiting lists. The health minister's office has been contacted for comment.
AU Financial Review
an hour ago
- AU Financial Review
Don't let rich old men tell you the planned super tax is good
Last fortnight in The Sydney Morning Herald, Ross Gittins praised the Albanese government's proposed changes to superannuation taxes, declaring: 'Don't let rich old men tell you the planned super tax is terribly bad'. His argument essentially boiled down to this: don't listen to the critics, just trust me (a different rich old man). According to Gittins, this reform is about fairness. But a closer look reveals deeper problems with the policy that should concern all Australians, especially young people just entering the workforce.
Sky News AU
an hour ago
- Sky News AU
Chris Bowen's energy revolution pushing Australia's heavy industry to the brink with Tomago Aluminium on the verge of collapse
Australia's largest aluminium smelter is on the brink of collapse under the weight of soaring power prices as Energy Minister Chris Bowen continues with his renewables revolution. A report in the Australian Financial Review emerged on Friday that said Rio Tinto-owned Tomago, Australia biggest aluminium producer, is seeking billions of dollars in public funds to avert collapse as energy costs plague local industry. The producer is located north of Newcastle, uses about 10 per cent of NSW's power supply and makes about 37 per cent of Australia's primary aluminium. The collapse of the massive company could lead to more than 1,000 people losing their jobs, while 5,000 indirect workers could suffer. Tomago executives have reportedly asked the NSW and federal governments for assistance amid crippling power prices and as cost-effective and consistent renewables remain largely unavailable. The damning report sparked concern from the Centre for Independent Studies' senior policy analyst Zoe Hilton who said the government's energy policy was crippling the aluminium sector. 'With power prices in Australia rising higher and higher, it simply doesn't make financial sense to run a smelter here,' Ms Hilton told 'Tomago's current predicament is a direct result of state and federal government plans to shift our grid to mostly intermittent energy sources.' Mr Bowen and Labor have vowed to make the nation a 'renewable energy superpower' with an energy mix of 82 per cent renewables by 2030 and green energy driving local manufacturing. The Albanese government is looking to boost this through production tax credits for leading Australian aluminium smelters, including Tomago, and give $2 billion back to help with the energy transition. A federal government source told the AFR it was involved in discussions with Tomago over the details of the tax credit design as it looks to alleviate the impacts of soaring power costs. Rio Tinto's chief executive Jakob Stausholm flagged concerns about the producer's electricity costs earlier this year where he warned power price contracts beyond 2028 would render Tomago unviable. Ms Hilton said this should come as a brutal warning for the government as it strives to dramatically alter the nation's energy mix. 'The federal government has refused to acknowledge that its plan to make our grid run off 82 per cent renewable energy by 2030 is making energy unaffordable for industrial users, not to mention residential and small business consumers,' Ms Hilton said. 'We are following in the footsteps of Germany, which gets almost half of its power from wind and solar. 'Around 40 per cent of German industrial companies are now considering partly or fully relocating operations abroad due to a lack of affordable and reliable energy. Australia has only just reached over 30 per cent wind and solar. 'We don't have European neighbours with nuclear plants from which to import reliable power as Germany does, so our industries will feel the pain of expensive, unreliable power much earlier in the renewables buildout.' Shadow energy minister Dan Tehan said Labor's ambitious renewables plan could result in job losses at Tomago. 'Spare a thought for the workers at Tomago worried about losing their job because high energy prices, as a result of Labor's obsession with renewable energy, is threatening their livelihood,' Mr Tehan told 'These workers will be worried today about paying the bills and putting food on the table if Tomago is closed because of Labor's higher energy costs. 'Every worker and every business owner in Australia will be looking at Tomago and worrying if their business can survive the exorbitant energy costs under Labor's renewables agenda.' Tomago's turmoil comes as the government looks to shift the aluminium industry to renewable energy while maintaining the operations of the major smelters. The producer was historically powered by cheap coal-fired generators but the shift away from fossil fuels has presented challenges regarding both energy security and power prices. Ms Hilton said Australia needs to ditch the renewables plan if the nation wants to keep heavy industry from moving overseas. 'If we want to minimise electricity costs, new coal plants will be the cheapest way to supply our grid,' Ms Hilton said. 'If industry remains committed to reducing emissions, nuclear plants are the only option to provide the necessary 24/7 power at an affordable price, so the bans will need to be lifted.' Tomago CEO Jerome Dozol in November 2024 said the company urgently needed public help to assist with the smelter's energy bills. 'The price of electricity on offer is too expensive for us to keep operating without government intervention,' Mr Dozol said.
