pdr

In September 1997 the federal Attorney-General's Department released an issues paper on the Delivery of Primary Dispute Resolution Services in Family Law.

The issues paper dealt with where federally-funded Primary Dispute Resolution services should be located and the best way to deliver these to the community. A possible new model was put forward for consideration. That was a single Commonwealth purchaser of Primary Dispute Resolution Services, with service provision by non Government providers. Questions included:

whether the current Primary Dispute Resolution services of the Family Court are best provided in a court environment, or whether families woudl be better-off with more community-based services
whether funds spent on court-bases and community-based services should be administered through a central point in the Commonwealth - referred to in the paper as the Office of Family Relationship Services
issues of quality assurance, community access, financial accountability

Submissions were taken until November 1997. The Family Law Council and Family Services Council delivered a joint advice to the Attorney General in May 1998 and the Family Court of Australia also made a detailed submission.

In July 1998 the Attorney-General released the Government's response The Delivery of Primary Dispute Resolution Services in Family Law: The Next Steps. The Attorney's press release is also on the web.

The Government expressed a commitment to improving access to services and enhancing the role of the community sector. It was announced that the Family Services Council and the Family Law Council would be asked to advise on:

* the current roles and relationships between all family law service providers including community based services, family law practitioners and the Family Court;

* how a more effective partnership between these providers could be achieved to reduce the numbers of people commencing proceedings in the Family Court;

* any structural changes that could be made relatively quickly and easily to support a stronger partnership approach that focuses on the client; and

* any structural or practice changes that would be necessary in the longer term for community-based services to take on a greater share of family law dispute resolution services.

[See: http://law.gov.au/aghome/legalpol/cld/dprs_next_steps/5.htm]

The Attorney-General touched again on primary dispute resolution services in his speech on 20 October '98 to the Family Court of Australia Third National Conference "Future Challenges for the Family Court - minimising family law litigation"