Secretary SPCA comments on the Family Law Legislation Amendment Bill 2011

The Secretary of the Shard Parenting Council of Australia, Mr Wayne Butler has published a short assessment of the Family Law Legislation Amendment (Family Violence and Other Measures) Bill 2011. It is very much in haste but he sees 4 key areas that need amendments. Areas that are of concern are:

• Repeal of s117AB relating to costs orders for false allegations
• The proposed amendments to s60CC (3) (c ) the benefit to the child having a meaningful relationship with both parents
• 4AB Definition of family violence and lastly
• Subsection 4(1)(c ) (definition of abuse) Essentially a, b and d should be supported as sensible amendments but part c is more problematic.

Women who cry wolf

On January 29, a short article appeared in the The Age online. Four sentences of this article were devoted to the fact that Police have cleared two Collingwood footballers, Dayne Beams and John McCarthy, of alleged sexual assault following grand final celebrations in 2010. It stated that Mr Beams and Mr McCarthy denied wrongdoing and co-operated with the investigation. In stark contrast to the brouhaha that erupted when allegations were made by an unnamed female in October last year, the media have by and large glossed over this story. A mere four sentences pales in comparison to the deluge unleashed by multiple Fairfax media commentators baying for blood and decrying the rampant misogyny of the AFL.

Men's Health Australia submission to Family Violence Bill 2010

Men's Health Australia has lodged its submission with the Attorney General's department into their proposed Family Violence Bill 2010 . Among our concerns were that the process leading to the bill was flawed; that the bill rewards parental alienation and encourages entrenched conflict; that the bill encourages the use of false allegations; that the bill facilitates and rewards family violence; and that the bill will lead to increased litigation and costs for separating families (and taxpayers).You can read the submission here.

WikiLeaks founder baffled by sex assault claims

One of the women claiming she was sexually assaulted by Julian Assange took a "trophy photo" of him lying naked in her bed, he says. The white-haired computer impresario had been invited to stay in her empty flat when he visited Stockholm to give a lecture last August, shortly after WikiLeaks released tens of thousands of classified US documents on the Afghanistan war. Mr Assange, 39, and unmarried, said the woman had returned home early and insisted he sleep in her bed. He does not feel he needs any excuses for what happened next. "We went to bed, and things went on from there," he said. However, the 31-year-old woman, who is identified in legal documents as Miss A, subsequently went to the police. Her claim was that although he had reluctantly used a condom at first, he then appeared to have ripped it. Having unprotected sex without a partner's consent can be considered a crime in Sweden.

Julian Assange, Feminism, and Rape (USA)

One unexpected consequence of the WikiLeaks saga has been to turn the spotlight on the debate over rape, sex, and consent. Julian Assange, journalism's misbegotten enfant terrible, has been hounded by accusations of sex crimes after he vaulted to fame by releasing leaked classified documents on the Internet. The charges were dismissed but then reinstated; Assange was arrested in London earlier this month and was released on bail last week while he fights extradition to Sweden. The nature of these charges has revived questions about where the law should draw the line between bad behavior and criminal acts, and whether the feminist rethinking of rape has made it easy for any man to be targeted.