Australian courts seek to be more father friendly

News.com.au reports that the Family Court has been talking to men’s rights groups in an effort to become more “father friendly”. It is also training staff to better understand the male perspective of divorce.

Sue Price of the Men’s Rights Agency, who attended the most recent meeting in Brisbane on Thursday, said: “We were a bit taken aback when we were asked (to attend the forum) because the Family Court has pretty much ignored the way men feel.”

The meeting was attended by representatives of the court, the Child Support Agency, Relationships Australia, Catholic welfare agency Centacare, and men’s groups. “We got out the butcher’s paper and the whiteboards and we really talked about how we could make the system work better for men,” Ms Price said.

“We discussed the fairness of the court decisions, and why the court seemed to regard fathers as the lesser parents. We asked why fathers should be made to feel like criminals. It was extremely productive.”

Whilst I don’t know much of the background of the Men’s Rights Agency, the fact that women are involved in its campaign, and speak in a respectful tone, sets it apart from some of the UK’s offerings.

Perhaps Fathers4Justics should take a leaf from its book.

Activism is well and good when it productive and doesn’t endanger other people or break the law. Compare the Australian position, where the agencies standing up for the rights of fathers are involved in dialogue with many other agencies, to the pathetic antics of UK’s F4J who sabotage public places, and whose upcoming Christmas campaign is to storm Anglican church services dressed as Santa Clause.

No wonder we don’t listen to these disillusioned fathers who have little respect for the system and country they work in, or their children. I wonder what their American and Canadian fathers get up to?

Read the full article: Family Court in ‘father friendly’ push