There is to be a family law protest that has been organised in Hyde Park, Sydney.

If you are available on Father’s Day – Sunday, 1 September and you can be in Sydney on that day, the following is recommended.

There is to be a family law protest that has been organised in Hyde Park, Sydney.

These are the protest details:

Date: Sunday, 1 September 2013.

Time: Between 10.00 and 12.00 noon.

Location: The mid-eastern side of Hyde Park (at the corner of College and Park Streets Sydney – just opposite the Australian Museum).

It is organised by Shannon from Newcastle.

The flyer and Mission Statement are provided below.

If available, you can RSVP to Shannon on her Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/papasaustralia or just come along.

Regards

John Flanagan

This is the flyer for the protest.

Shannon’s Mission Statement below has also provided more detail:

People Against Parental Alienations –

Mission Statement

The Family Law system is besieged with political violence, false allegations of violence, child abuse or substance abuse, incongruous policing, insufficient counselling, a bureaucratic Child Support Agency and an out-dated perception of domestic violence. This results in an unprecedented number of children being wrongly alienated from a parent, with a very high likelihood that the father will be the alienated parent, who becomes overly vulnerable to depression and suicide.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in 2009-10, there were over one million children (aged 0-17) who had a natural parent living elsewhere. Of these, only 31% have daily or weekly face-to-face contact with their other parent i.e. meaningful contact. Almost half never stayed overnight with that parent. A quarter saw their parent less than once per year, or never. In nearly all cases the father is the parent living elsewhere, sometimes by choice but frequently not, so according to the Government’s own figures over 300,000 children are alienated from their fathers.

These grim statistics show that family unit, the cornerstone of Australian life, is becoming a relic of the past and the current systems are only worsening this downfall by driving the wedge deeper between children and their fathers.

The failings start with the police who process Apprehended Domestic Violence Orders (ADVO) on the basis of personal statements, even without

any evidence to support the statement. The courts then hear the application several months later, removing any responsibility from the police. This policy decision was made to rid the police of liability if they do not action an ADVO and then violence subsequently occurs, but serves only to rid a child of their father. This is because the defendant, usually being the father, often has no right to see their child whilst waiting for the hearing – the start of common trend.

These strict conditions regarding ADVO’s were initiated to counter the terrible problems stemming from domestic violence, but are inherently unfair. The Australian Institute of Family Studies found that 26% of mothers and 17% of fathers reported being physically hurt by their partners. A further 39% of mothers and 36% of fathers reported emotional abuse. However despite such similar proportions of both female and male victims the police, Family Law professionals and counselling providers perpetuate the myth that it is females and children who are almost exclusively victims of these awful crimes, contributing to systematic persecution of fathers, who are almost as likely to be the victims.

In situations where the ADVO applicant also has a case before the Family Court, judges consider all allegations of family violence, whether true,

false or unheard. This violates the right of every citizen to be innocent until proven guilty and encourages behaviour that intentionally alienates a father from their child by making allegations which are acted upon by the police and the Family Court.

The retiring Family Court judge, Justice David Collier, recently said he sees unprecedented hostility infiltrating the Family Court, and a willingness by parents to use their children to damage one another. The worst are those mothers who direct false allegations of abuse against former partners; specifically allegations of child sexual abuse are being increasingly invented by mothers to stop fathers from seeing their children.