Response to: Exposure Draft - Family Law Amendment Bill 2023 Consultation Paper, January 2023

Amending the Family Law Act in the manner proposed does not reflect social and community expectations about the role of family relationships in protecting and nurturing children regardless of the family configuration. Such changes would reduce the scope of the children’s best interest only to protection from gendered forms of family violence acceptable to the stakeholders informing the proposal. Stakeholders advising the proposal appear to ignore research and evidence that does not support their presumption that family violence only impacts women and children.