Politician and Official agree, so called Child Support is a Tax On 15 August 2004 the Hon Paul Swain,Associate Minister of Revenue and John Wright, Under-Secretary to the Minister of Revenue, issued a media statement. Fairer tax treatment proposed by discussion document. I would suggest that you read the statement. In summary it’s a media […]

Press Release: Victoria University of Wellington Judge to address Family Court seminar The role of the Family Court will be the focus of debate at a one-day seminar on Monday 30 August, organised in association with Victoria University’s Roy McKenzie Centre for the Study of Families and hosted by the New Zealand Psychological Association. Issues […]

Quotes on the New Zealand Child Support Act 1991 collected from public websites on the Internet via a search engine. Suggested Search Terms : Child Support Act 1991, Child Support Theory, Men’s Convoy 2004, Child Support Reform. “In light of that is can be easy to forget the basic truth that in child support I […]

Police in Whakatane have detected an upsurge in family violence as a flow-on effect of the region’s floods. Community Sergeant Neil Peterson said yesterday that reported family violence had doubled during the weeks since the July flooding. “We average five to six incidents each week but there is obviously a lot of stress and frustration […]

Judicial activism creates a vicious cycle that undermines confidence in court decisions, says a long-serving United States federal appellate judge, Diarmuid O’Scannlain, brought to New Zealand by the US State Department. Judge O’Scannlain referred to the present “conversation” between New Zealand politicians and the judiciary on the question of judicial activism – when judgments reflect […]

On July 28 David Cunliff delivered an address to the Child Support National Worksop. My response to David Cunliff’s speech is in italics What is clear is that the advice Mr Cunliff receives is very different from the reality of the experiences of Parents and Children subjected to the Chilod Support Act 1991. Hon David […]

New Zealand First social services spokesperson Bill Gudgeon has called for a review of protection order provisions and police responses to domestic incidents under the Domestic Violence Act. “Domestic violence is a major problem for New Zealand women. It has been blamed for up to 27 deaths each year,” Mr Gudgeon said. “Evidence suggests that […]

The man … leaped from the bridge on August 6, just hours after he had quit his job with the department’s child support team in Takapuna. Staff told the Weekend Herald that the man had complained to management that he could not cope with the stress and demands of working at night. They said he […]

Men’s health issues will get special attention from National, says the party’s new health spokeswoman, Judith Collins. She has asked associate health spokesman Paul Hutchison to take responsibility for promoting men’s and children’s health, and pharmaceuticals. There had been no specific men’s health initiatives in the past five years, Judith Collins claimed. Sitting on Parliament’s […]

Nobody is even certain how many teen fathers are out there. The meagre statistics available (commissioned by the former Ministry of Youth Affairs and dating back to 1997) indicate that just over half the babies born to teenaged girls are fathered by teenaged boys. Given New Zealand has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates […]

Hon Rick Barker There is a real mood of willingness for the Family Court system to be brought into the 21st Century. As family changes involve step parents and children, single parents and extended family – the role of the family court changes. The government is listening to what practitioners envisage for the court. We […]

Press Release: New Zealand First Party New Zealand First social services spokesperson Bill Gudgeon has praised the new domestic violence investigation system initiated by the Wairarapa police. “Every two weeks, a team from the Police, Child Youth and Family, Courts, Women’s Refuge and Stopping Violence services meet to discuss the cases of domestic violence reported […]

By Professor Stephen Baskerville, Ph.D The result of three decades of unrestrained divorce is that huge numbers of people — many of them government officials — now have a vested professional and financial interest in encouraging it. Divorce today is not simply a phenomenon; it is a regime — a vast bureaucratic empire that permeates […]

Stepparents and non-resident parents play just as important role in the behaviour and well-being of their children as the parent they live with, Victoria University researchers have found. Centre Director, Associate Professor Jan Pryor, says the study found children’s relationships with their stepparents and non-resident parents are much more important than previously thought and not […]

Women left to fight on their own By TARA ROSS Sunday Star-Times investigations reveal it is getting harder for women to win protection orders against violent partners, and judges are increasingly granting orders only in deferred, defended court hearings – rather than straight away. The National Collective of Independent Women’s Refuges, expected to release a […]

A Christchurch man who wrongly spent three years in jail on sex charges after a judge made a procedural error is seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation. Mervyn Finlayson, 60 — a stroke victim with a serious heart condition — was jailed for six years in 2000 on charges of indecently assaulting a […]

Sydney: The Australian Federal Police are appealing for help to track down a 4-year-old New Zealand girl believed to be have been taken across the Tasman by her mother in defiance of a court order. Rebekah Jayne Stewart has been missing since March 2003, when former New Zealand policewoman Roanne Jill Stewart is believed to […]

Parents who repeatedly use their children as pawns in custody battles may be asked to pay a “good behaviour” bond to try to ensure they respect access orders. The court-ordered payments, which could reach thousands of dollars, will be cash or bonds listed against assets, such as a house or car. The decision to change […]