Labor’s Payoff to the Feminists: Era of Equal Rights for Parents Is Over. By Bettina Arndt.
The Labor government has announced draft legislation that will take Australia back to the dark ages of the winner-takes-all custody model.
‘The Albanese government went back to the future this week,’ pronounced the Australian Financial Review (AFR) spelling out the proposed laws which would end of any notion of shared parental responsibility, shifting the power in divorce battles firmly back into women’s hands.
This is huge, people. This dastardly political attack on our society will undermine the welfare of children, ramp up hostility between parents, and swell the coffers of lawyers who will benefit from the appalling fallout. Yet our media and politicians will no doubt avert their eyes to this impending catastrophe and just usher the new laws through — unless we stop them.
Back in 2007, I was approached by a retiring family court judge keen to enlighten me on how the family court had gone astray. The problem? ‘The woman has had all the power, the man almost none.’ In the judge’s view, children were missing out on vital contact with both parents due to decisions to award sole custody to the primary carer.
The custodial parent has been all-powerful. She — it’s usually she — has had the power to regulate access, sometimes regardless of court orders. She’s had complete authority to live anywhere, with the child, that she desires. The power to determine the child’s school, church, decisions about day-to-day living, and the power to get a greater slice of the matrimonial cake. More often than not that power is exercised unreasonably.
The Howard reforms very effectively eroded that power and, ever since, feminists have worked feverishly to get it back — regardless of the cost to children. Now comes their reward for marshalling the women’s vote to help Labor regain government. It’s payback time … and Labor has come good by offering women the greatest prize of all — the children. …
All the language that provided the scaffolding that enabled children to have divorced dads remain part of their lives is being ripped out of the legislation. The Australian Financial Review headline said it all: ‘Time’s up for ‘equal rights’ in court custody battles.’ …
Feminist lies win again:
It’s another superb victory for the feminists, one more achievement for their mighty domestic violence juggernaut, which already works a treat stacking the family law system to favour women.
Currently all it takes is one vague claim that violence could occur, requiring zero supportive evidence, to set in train a sequence of events starting with dad being removed from the home, denied contact with children and, if he’s lucky, ending up paying big money to see his own children in our hellish supervised contact services. And mum gains all the perks, benefits, and supports that come with victim status. It’s totally irresistible.
I don’t recall this being mentioned at the last election.
