Everyone looks at the budget to see how they or their special interest group have been impacted. Our family law team is no different. The COVID-19 pandemic impacts families at every stage of their life-cycle. CCH has provided the following Family Law — Budget 2020/21 overview on family law services:
The 2020/21 Budget was unveiled on 6 October 2020. The following family law services will receive government funding:
- The Budget is building on previous commitments to keep women and children safe and ensuring access to justice by providing the Family and Federal Circuit Courts with an additional $10.2m to manage the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The government is providing $4.8m to give continued effect to its ban on direct cross-examinations, $1.8m to criminalise Family Court order breaches and funding to extend the Help is Here advertising campaign.
- The government is providing ongoing funding to the national counselling helpline 1800RESPECT to support Australians impacted by domestic violence.
- The government is helping to protect Partner visa applicants by introducing a compulsory sponsorship application framework. This will mandate character checks and the sharing of personal information between applicant and sponsor, to ensure that all parties are informed before deciding to proceed with the application.
- The government is providing $220m to support the delivery of critical frontline services. This includes $133m towards supporting family and child support programs and $87.3m towards supporting Family Law and Family Relationship Services.
