Date: 24Jun 2015
A Judicial Studies Programme & Hague Conference on Private International Law seminar
The Hochelaga Lectures 2015: The Judiciary’s Role in Safeguarding the Well-being of the Child
First Lecture:
Parental Responsibility Disputes in the Australian Family Court: Lessons from a Decade of Reform
The Family Law Amendment (Shared Parental Responsibility) Act came into force in Australia on 1 July 2006 with the goal (among others) of introducing a less adversarial approach to family law disputes involving parental responsibility. This lecture will consider the effectiveness of the reforms implemented by the Act. To what extent has there been a “culture change” for the better in the way family law relating to parental responsibility for children is being administered in Australia today? What challenges remain? The lecture is topical given recent proposals by the Chief Justice’s Working Party (WP) for similar reforms of the procedural rules of the Hong Kong Family Court (for the for the WP’s Interim Report and Consultative Paper, see www.judiciary.gov.hk/en/other_info/family_review.htm). The Hong Kong Government is likewise working to enact the recommendations of the Law Reform Commission (LRC) on child custody and access (see www.hkreform.gov.hk/en/publications/raccess.htm for the LRC’s March 2005 Report).
The Hochelaga Lecturer, Honourable Justice Victoria Bennett, was appointed to the Family Court of Australia in November 2005. Previously, she had served as a Magistrate in the Federal Magistrates Court of Australia (now the Federal Circuit Court) sitting across all areas of that Court’s wide jurisdiction. Before her appointment to the bench, she was a member of the independent Victorian Bar for 16 years. She has been a member of the International Hague Network of Judges since 2008. In 2015, she was appointed a Presidential Member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
The Hochelaga Lectures 2015: The Judiciary’s Role in Safeguarding the Well-being of the Child The Hochelaga Lectures commemorate the life and interests of the anonymous donor’s father. Previous Hochelaga Lecturers have included Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin PC CStJ; Professor Gareth Jones QC; Professor Andrew Burrows QC; Professor Lawrence Lessig; Professor Martha Nussbaum; Professor K. Anthony Appiah; Professor Raul Pangalangan; Professor Madhavi Sunder; Professor Mindy Chen-Wishart; Professor Bruno Zeller; and the Hon. Mr. Justice Peter Roth of the English High Court. The Hochelaga Lectures 2015 will comprise a series of lectures on the theme of The Judiciary’s Role in Safeguarding the Well-Being of the Child. As part of this series, Judge Huang Yongwei, the President of the National Judicial College of the People’s Republic of China, will be speaking on the approach to juvenile crime of the Courts in Mainland China; and Chief Justice Diana Bryant AO of the Family Court of Australia will be speaking on the challenges of safeguarding the welfare of the child across international borders.