Volume 1 Issue 1
March 1996
The NWJC aims to double its membership this IWD! Is that possible? Well...yes, with your help. A flyer to copy and post up at IWD week gatherings is enclosed. Groups and individuals can join the NWJC by just signing on. We rely on members to retur n the completed lists to the NWJC office.
Members are encouraged to talk about the NWJC at gatherings and to identify themselves as NWJC members. We have had considerable influence in the last 12 months on family law reform and we have been active on many other issues. The NWJC is building n ew networks around women's justice issues - academics, services providers, activists, practicing lawyers, women's interest groups and others, working together.
In March 1994 the Australian Law Reform Commission reported on what it referred to as the failure of justice for women in Australia. The NWJC aims to keep women's justice issues firmly on the agenda and your participation in the NWJC will help to prom ote equality and justice for women in Australia.
Aim: the NWJC began in Feb. '95 and aims to lobby and encourage national action to promote women's equality before the law.
Board: determines the direction and activities and consists of the women's legal services and establishment groups in each state and territory, WEL, Feminist Law Foundation and the Australian Women Lawyers establishment group.
Members: over 30 national women's peak organisations, 160 state groups and services and 400 individual members. The membership includes leading academics and women from all backgrounds
Resources: in November 1995 the NWJC was funded the National Agenda for Women Grants Program by the Office of the Status of Women, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Women's subordination under the law is an obstacle to the achievement of equality and it is a manifestation of the historically unequal power relations between men and women which have led to domination over, and discrimination against, women by men.
Women's subordination under the law supports and entrenches women's economic, social and political subordination in society.
Violence against women is one of the crucial social mechanisms by which women are forced into subordinate position compared with men and the legal system's tolerance of violence against women is a key issue in women's legal subordination.
The justice system in Australia has failed women and proactive steps are required to achieve women's equality before the law.
Thanks to the amazing Marian (born to be wired!) Sheridan the NWJC is in cyberspace at http://www.nwjc.org.au
The home page includes the first (we think) Australian bill tracking facility. You can dial in and get copies of the Family Law Reform Bill, Hansards, and Senate Committee papers.
More? Coming soon: over 200 links to women's legal resources on the internet; national and international women layers groups; a list of conferences and access to the best search engines to help you explore the net!
And...some amazing individual could whip up a catchy tee-shirt design to promote the project! Remember though that 'Grrls Need Modems!' has been done.
Members will remember receding numerous cries for help from the NWJC on the Children's Bill. The Bill has been passed and it is likely to come into effect in June 1996. Your efforts were worth it! We had significant impact on the legislation and on likely future consultation process.
...Achieving the first significant change to the principles in the Family Law Act since the Act started 20 years ago. Now a Court exercising jurisdiction under the Family Law Act has to aim to ensure safety from violence
...New references in the Act regarding the rights of children e.g. right to contact with each parent) are clearly expressed to be subject to the best interests of the child
...The safety of a vulnerable parent is to be taken into account in determining what parent/child contact arrangements are appropriate
...Raising sensitivity to cases where use of mediation and other primary dispute resolution process may not be appropriate (e.g. due to violence).
Well done everyone and particular thanks to : Judy Harrison, Zoe Rathus, Juliet Behrens, Nicola Seaman, Ariel Couchman, Kate Halliday, Deborah McCullock, Dee Boss-Walker, Chris Butler and Jann McFarlane.
There are currently three Women's Legal Services (Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne) and more are coming with funding provided in the Justice Statement. The Statement provides funds for Women's Legal Services in each state and territory. A small amount of funding targeted at Aboriginal and Torres Strait women's legal needs was also foreshadowed.
The next issue of the Journal will give a full report on WLC's. Meanwhile for information contact the existing services are:
Only 17% of working women in Australia receive any maternity pay, unlike the position in most other industrialised countries where paid maternity leave is the norm. Article 112(b) of the CEDAW Convention requires states to introduce maternity leave wi th pay or comparable social benefits. Australia ratified CEDAW in 1983, but entered a reservation to this Article. The ILO Convention No. 103 Concerning Maternity Protection which requires a minimum of 12 weeks paid maternity leave has not been ratified .
In February this year a Maternity Allowance of $840 was announced (equivalent to 6 weeks unemployment benefit). It is means tested of family income, and although it is a helpful contribution to the costs of having a baby, it hardly constitutes materni ty pay. The lack of paid maternity leave is a big issues for working women - creating financial hardship and dependence and loss of employment opportunity. It is arguably direct sex discrimination in that it disadvantages women for an activity (taking t ime off work to have a baby), intrinsically linked to their sex. There are several European Court of Justice decisions supporting this view.
We are also interested in increasing the use of the indirect discrimination provisions of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 to make it easier for women to combine work and family commitments.
If you are interested in joining a group to work on these issues, contact Jenny Earle on (06)248 5802 or Alex Heron on (06)285 4962
NWJC IS SPONSORING SUSIE BRENNAN, AUSTRALIAN FEMINIST LAW FOUNDATION TO ATTENDED CSW 40 IN NEW YORK 11-22 MARCH 96
In February 1996 the NWJC was strongly represented at a consultation held in Melbourne regarding the Family Law Reform Bill (No 2) 1995.
The NWJC convened a meeting at the end of the consultation which resulted in the Family Law Section of the Law Council of Australia writing to the Attorney-General advising that the Bill was not ready, that the consultation process was inadequate and that the signatories had major (but not necessarily similar) concerns with the Bill. The 20 plus signatories included the NWJC, the National Council of the Single Mother and Her Child; the Rural Women's Network, and the Women's Legal Services who were re presented at the meeting.
The NWJC summarised its concerns about the Bill in a letter to the Attorney-General. Part of the letter is reproduced below:
"In assessing the likely impact of the Bill in its present form we are particularly mindful of the following contextual factors:
In our view this Bill will seriously and disproportionately disadvantage women and leave women more disadvantaged than the present regime. While there are numerous difficulties the following is a summary of our primary concerns:
The NWJC said, in summary, that it was alarmed by the seriously adverse impact the Bill is likely to have for women and the Bill was not supported in its present form.
The Bill has lapsed due to the election. The Shadow Attorney General has advised the NWJC that if elected the Coalition would review matrimonial property reforms to ensure greater certainty and clarity in the allocation of matrimonial property, and t o protect the interests of all parties.
The NWJC will advise members if and when the Bill is reintroduced.
Thankyous for the work done so far to: Judy Harrison, Nicola Seaman, Angela Lynch, Kathryn Bloom, Elizabeth Wing, Elspeth McInnes and Juliet Behrens.
The NWJC was part of a national coalition opposing the Administrative Decisions (Effect of International Instruments) Bill 1995 which was intended to overcome the High Courts decision in the Teoh Case.
In Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs v Ah Hin Teoh (1995) 128 ALR 353, the High Court held that ratification of a treaty created a legitimate expectation that a Commonwealth administrative decision maker would act in accordance with treaty obligations. If a decision maker intends to act contrary to the treaty, the decision maker is required to notify a person who would be adversely affected and to give that person an opportunity to make submissions on the matter
Concern was expressed by numerous groups including those concerned with women's rights, about the effect of the proposed legislation on the enjoyment of human rights recognised in the various human rights instruments to which Australia is a party. The se concerns extended to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). After the Teoh decision, it would have been possible to require administrative decision-makers to pay some attention to CEDAW in making decisio ns which affect women and to give a woman affected by a particular decision a hearing if CEDAW was not to be compiled with. The proposed legislation would have removed this mechanism for making CEDAW more relevant to the lives of Australian women.
Further, there were concerns that the Anti-Teoh legislation would have general dampening effect on the use of human rights conventions by the courts and by decision-makers. The Bill was opposed by numerous bodies including the Australian Law Reform Co mmission; the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission; Amnesty International; the Law Council of Australia and the Community and Public Sector Union.
The NWJC:
participated in national coalition, co-ordinated by the Greens and the Australian Democrats to oppose the legislation. The other members included
The Bill was introduced by the government and although the Bill has lapsed due to the federal election, the Coalition have said it will support the Bill. Watch this space because if the Bill is re-introduced after the election it will again be opposed by the NWJC
Big thankyous to Anne Orford, Chris Walker, Hilary Charlesworth and Dianne Otto for the great effort.