Report to the People
19th December 2005
Domestic
Politics
If, as I’ve argued in the
past, the law should stay out of family life wherever possible, then politics
should, wherever possible, stay out of family law.
Any society, of course, needs
laws setting out the rules governing things like marriage. And
if the legislature which makes these laws consists of elected politicians,
it’s inevitable that some politics will come into play.
But that doesn’t mean it
should become just another political football.
And at times, sadly, Thursday’s final stages of the Family Law Bill
sailed fairly close to doing exactly that.
When reforming the law in
areas such as this, the top priority must be making sure the system you’re
putting in place will work well and be fit for purpose.
And, while it’s never going to be perfect and not everyone is going to
be happy with every single aspect, the Bill we passed on Thursday tries to steer
a middle course and does, in my view, put some commonsense reforms in place.
One very sensible move is,
rather than simply spending money counselling troubled couples when they split,
investing more in support services to help them work out their problems and stay
together. Another key reform is
giving new rights and responsibilities to unmarried fathers who jointly register
their child's birth.
Family law should be, if
you’ll pardon the pun, a sleeping partner.
It shouldn’t interfere where it’s not needed. Now if only families themselves could do the same at this time
of year…
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