Family Courts in Crisis in Queensland

The Family Courts are reported to be at a crisis point in Queensland because of a shortage of Judges. The Family Law Act/Courts recently celebrated 40 years of operation.  At lot has changed in 40 years and whilst there have been significant amendments during those 40 years, there remains much work to be done.  Not enough Judges is just one issue.

Why are so many matters before the Courts when clearly less than 5% ever get to stage where a trial and judgment is needed.  If more emphasis were placed on ensuring that all avenues of dispute resolution have been explored before matters are allowed to enter the court system, perhaps the workload of the Judges could be reduced.

There are many other reasons why our family courts are not coping which would be best addressed by a comprehensive overhaul of the family law system in Australia.

The President of the Queensland Law Society recently identified the shortage of Judges as being at crisis point in a Courier Mail Article.