Equality before the law
13.1 Women in Australia are equal before the law, including when they enter contracts and loans, administer property, and when they travel. The Australian Government continues to work to refine legislative protections for women and improve access to the legal system.
Judicial education and reform
13.2 As outlined in Australia's last report on CEDAW in 2003, all members of the Australian judiciary can access education programs that increase their awareness of gender and the legal system and the impact of judicial decisions on women. The Australian Government funds the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration and the National Judicial College of Australia, both of which provide programs that broaden participants' knowledge of gender issues, and help to address gender bias in the legal system. Several state and territory governments also run gender awareness training through their own judicial education programs. The Queensland Government has launched the Equal Treatment Bench Book, which provides judges with information to ensure that court proceedings are managed in ways that are fair to all litigants and other participants, whatever their circumstances. The bench books cover gender equality, ethnic diversity and Indigenous people. The Western Australian Government also commissioned an Equal Treatment Bench Book in 2007 to ensure a person's cultural or other social background does not disadvantage them in court.
Family Court of Australia
13.3 The Family Court of Australia continues to apply the Family Law Act 1975 and some matters under other legislation such as the Marriage Act 1961 and child support legislation.
13.4 The court is working to improve the way that separation and marriage dissolution is managed and ensure that the welfare of children of separating couples is paramount. In 2004, the Family Court, in partnership with the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, began an initiative aimed at improving services to culturally and linguistically diverse clientele. As part of the Living in Harmony program, the court runs community-based information sessions about family law for people from a number of emerging communities, including from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan and Iraq. These sessions help women, many of whom are asylum seekers, to access family law services provided by the family law courts.
Evaluation of the family law reform package
13.5 The Attorney-General's Department and the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs have joint responsibility for the implementation of the family law reform package and its evaluation. The package includes changes to the law, new services (including the Family Relationship Centres, Family Relationship Advice Line and Family Relationships Online), expanded Early Intervention Services, and expanded Post Separation Services.
13.6 In 2006 the Australian Institute of Family Studies was commissioned to evaluate the extent to which the package as a whole has been effective in achieving the objectives of the reforms. The evaluation and associated longitudinal research will measure the initial and continuing impacts of the reforms on Australian families, including those that have experienced, or are experiencing, family violence. The Australian Government expects to receive the evaluation report in late 2009.
Federal Magistrates Court
13.7 The Federal Magistrates Court continues to help litigants resolve a range of federal legal matters. In particular, the Court is a low cost forum for women seeking enforcement of anti-discrimination law and resolution of family law disputes.
Legal aid
13.8 Providing legal aid is a core element in promoting access to justice. It allows disadvantaged members of the community in need of legal assistance to obtain legal services. The Australian Government funds state and territory legal aid commissions to provide legal assistance to disadvantaged people in matters arising under Commonwealth law, mostly family law. Legal aid commissions are independent statutory bodies established under state and territory legislation. In 2007-08, commissions provided 36,782 grants of assistance for Commonwealth law matters. Overall, women received 62.5 per cent of these grants. Of the 33,525 grants for family law, women received 64.7 per cent.
13.9 In 2007-08, the Australian Government provided $178 million in legal aid funding. Of this, $151 million was spent on family law matters.
13.10 The Commonwealth Legal Aid Priorities and Guidelines reflect the Australian Government's commitment to ensuring that women have equal access to justice and legal assistance. Along with a range of other matters, such as those involving children, women at risk of violence are given high priority.
13.11 The Commonwealth understands that some legal aid commissions offer services targeted at assisting women, for example training for practitioners regarding domestic violence and specialised information services.
13.12 State and territory governments often have specific programs for women through their legal aid services, such as Queensland's Women's Legal Aid Specialist Unit, which provides legal advice, information, representation and specialist social work support to women, as well as working to increase women's access to legal aid services. The unit also oversees the Violence Against Women strategy, administers the Brisbane Court Assistance program and delivers training for legal aid staff, non-government organisations and private legal practitioners on best practice guidelines for working with women affected by violence. Queensland's Legal Aid also implemented recommendations from the Rural Women's Legal Awareness project report, such as providing targeted information and training in legal aid services for Filipino women who are victims of domestic violence.
13.13 The New South Wales Government's Legal Aid agency has a civil law division which, in addition to providing core legal aid assistance and services, also provides human rights law, including sexual harassment, sex discrimination, victims' compensation and relationship debt. The New South Wales Government also provides funding to the Women's Family Law Support Service-a partnership project with the non-government sector, which will provide critical additional support to women who are separating from their partners and have experienced domestic violence.
13.14 The South Australian Government launched the Women's Information Service Family Court Support program in 2005 to provide support, companionship and information to women going through the Family Court, particularly to domestic violence and abuse victims.
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Community legal services
13.15 The Australian Government continues to fund 127 community legal centres across Australia. This includes funding for Women's Legal Services, Indigenous Women's Outreach projects and Rural Women's Outreach Lawyer Services. In 2007-08, funding for the three types of services amounted to nearly $5 million.
13.16 In April 2008, a one-off boost of $10 million was allocated to the Commonwealth Community Legal Services program, particularly to help community legal centres meet increased demand for their services. Over $4 million of the funding is to provide increased support to family law work in community legal centres.
13.17 As part of the Northern Territory Emergency Response, an extra $574,500 was allocated to three women's legal services in the Northern Territory in 2007-08, and again in 2008-09. The legal services provide information and advice to women in Indigenous communities and in some circumstances may give legal assistance to women wanting to protect their children.
13.18 In 2006-07, community legal services provided assistance to 81,311 female clients (59 per cent of the total number of clients seen). As a proportion of the total number of female clients, 4 per cent reported low English proficiency, 4 per cent reported an Indigenous background, and 10.0 per cent reported having a disability. Women accounted for 2.8 per cent (2,264) of clients reporting low English proficiency, 4.5 per cent (3,683) of clients reporting an Indigenous background, and 8.4 per cent (6,821) of the total female clients reporting a disability.
Women in the criminal justice system
13.19 State and territory governments have primary responsibility for the criminal justice system. The Australian Government is committed to working with the states and territories to address issues including discrimination against women in prison and the particular justice-related issues of women from Indigenous and culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
13.20 Australia's Sex Discrimination Act 1984 gives responsibility for investigating complaints of sexual discrimination to the Australian Human Rights Commission. The Commission tries to help parties involved in discrimination allegations reach a mutually agreeable solution through conciliation. If conciliation is not possible, the Commission is responsible for instituting proceedings through the courts.
13.21 The Victorian Government established the Women's Correctional Services Advisory Committee to provide an external source of advice to government on the delivery of correctional services to women. The Victorian Government has also developed the Better Pathways: An Integrated Response to Women's Offending and Re-offending strategy, which aims to address the increasing numbers of women entering prison in Victoria. The strategy includes 37 initiatives to reduce women's offending and re-offending, imprisonment, and victimisation.
13.22 In May 2004, the Western Australian Government opened the Boronia Pre-Release Centre for Women, which supports low security women prisoners preparing to reintegrate into the community and offers rehabilitation activities and work placements tailored to the women's needs.
13.23 In 2007, the Northern Territory Government established the Women in Prison Policy Action Group within the Darwin Correctional Centre. The group includes correctional centre staff and management who meet every two months to discuss and address recommendations that came from the 2006 Northern Territory Ombudsman's review into the operations of the centre's women's facility. Most of the Ombudsman's recommendations have been addressed (including improved infrastructure) and correctional services have commenced the implementation of the women in prison policy.
13.24 The Australian Capital Territory Government's recent introduction of the Children and Young People Bill 2008 takes account of recommendations from the 2005 Human Rights Audit of Quamby Youth Detention Centre, which identified the need to recognise the special needs of female detainees. In 2007, with a view to setting human rights benchmarks before a new facility is established, the Human Rights Commission undertook an audit on the operation of the Territory's correctional facilities. The audit focused on the treatment of vulnerable detainee populations, such as Indigenous people, women, people with disability (including mental illness), people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and intersex people.
Indigenous women
13.25 As at 30 June 2007, 614 Indigenous women were in custody in Australian prisons. Despite Indigenous Australians making up around 2 per cent of Australia's population, Indigenous women made up 30.9 per cent of the overall female prison population. This represents an increase from 29.6 per cent in 2006. At 30 June 2006, Indigenous women were 23.1 times more likely than non-Indigenous women to be imprisoned. Between 2002 and 2006, the imprisonment rate for Indigenous females increased by 34 per cent.
13.26 The Legal Aid for Indigenous Australians program provides professional and culturally sensitive legal aid services for Indigenous Australians. The program funds a network of Indigenous Legal Aid service providers to deliver legal services at 84 permanent sites, court circuits and outreach locations in metropolitan, rural and remote areas across Australia.
13.27 The Australian Government also funds 31 Family Violence Prevention Legal Services units, which are mostly located in regional and remote areas. The main focus of the units is to provide culturally appropriate assistance to Indigenous adults and children who are victims of family violence, including sexual abuse. The units' primary function is to provide legal assistance, casework, counselling and court support services.
13.28 The Australian Government has allocated $4.2 million towards Indigenous-specific community legal education projects in rural and remote communities. By providing information about legal and human rights, including how to access a range of support services, this initiative aims to empower Indigenous Australians in remote and rural communities to report and challenge violence and child abuse.
13.29 Under the Commonwealth Community Legal Services program, funding is provided to eight organisations across Australia specifically to operate Indigenous Women's projects that provide legal services for Indigenous women. The projects provide assistance to Indigenous women across a wide range of legal issues including family law, tenancy, domestic and sexual violence, and consumer rights law. They also provide a variety of other services including community development and community legal education, and outreach services to rural and/or urban fringe communities. The projects can offer an alternative source of legal assistance where there are conflict of interest issues with Indigenous Legal Services and/or Family Violence Prevention Legal Services. Indigenous Women's projects can also help other mainstream service providers offer culturally appropriate legal services to Indigenous women.
13.30 In 2007, the Queensland Government released its Vulnerable Person Policy. The policy states the Queensland Government's commitment to improve the provision of justice services to ensure those people who are vulnerable in the criminal justice system, including Indigenous people and people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, are respected, supported and receive equitable and fair treatment, regardless of their circumstances or capacity and regardless of whether they are victims, witnesses or defendants. Additionally, in 2004, the 'recent complaint' rule, which provided that a complaint about a sexual assault is only admissible where the complaint is recent, that is, made at the first reasonable opportunity, was abolished.