Mackay-Whitsunday Family
Law Pathways Network
JUNE 2015
EDITION 12
WELCOME TO THE 12TH EDITION OF THE MACKAYWHITSUNDAY REGION, FAMILY LAW PATHWAYS
NETWORK NEWLSETTER
It is now known that the Attorney general’s department is funding for
a further four year contract which is great news for all.
FLPN CONFERENCE
ROUND UP
The MWFLPN includes the townships of Mackay, Moranbah, Dysart,
Nebo, Proserpine, Cannonvale and Arlie Beach. The MackayWhitsunday FLPN is funded by the Australian Government, AttorneyGeneral’s Department and hosted by the Mackay Family Relationship
Centre, Centacare. There is no cost to join the network and new
members are always encouraged.
On the 11th June, 2015 we held our first FLPN Conference and special
guest, MP Julianne Gilbert kindly officiated the opening of the
conference. Julianne is a well known member of the Mackay Region
and has a long history in the education section and also Teachers
Federation Union. Julianne recognised the contribution of all
Community Services in Mackay and addressed some of the issues we
face in Mackay.
Contact Me
Marlie Tudor
(07) 4840 0655
0457 647 335
marliet@centacare.net
35 Milton Street Mackay,
Qld 4740
Outer Conference speakers during the day included Relationships
Australia (Mike Fry) discussing the support services for Men in our
community. Cara Gjuzi (Mackay Regional City Council) outlined her
role with council and the work the team in community services carries
out in our city and they support they offer to volunteers. Therese
Donnelly and Leanne Haber presented what can be expected in the
changes for Child Safety and reporting. Children’s Contact Centre
(Jaime Pick) engaged the audience in an excellent feel good story of a
recent outcome they have experienced at the centre and the wonderful
support work taking place for families. Mackay Police representative
(Camellia Tibbet) gave a wonderful talk about the support Police officer
provide in the many cases around family violence and gave the
audience a clearer picture of that first point of contact. Solicitor Kristy
Doyle (Legal Aid) spoke to the audience of her role and the support
available through Legal Aid with court appearances, consent orders,
breaches and property matters. Cat McPherson (Wesley Foundation)
gave the audience an update on the Mackay Regional Suicide
Prevention Network Strategies and Draft Planning to date with the
objectives and aims. Doug Scells (Mackay Family Alliance Group) gave
a overview of the progress to date for planning stages of the group, for
the roll out in 2016 for a “Child and Family Wellbeing” Check-Up.
Mackay-Whitsunday Family
Law Pathways Network
JUNE 2015
EDITION 12
TRANSCRIPTS FROM
ATTORNEY GENERAL’S
DEPT
Our final speaker who wrapped up the day for us was Local Family Law
Solicitor Jenny Hamilton. Jenny covered many aspects of the Family
Law process and gave valuable information especially around the
courts and the handing downs of child matters in various scenarios.
Jenny acknowledges all the services in progress running in our
communities and how valuable they are for improvement in children’s
lives. Jenny particularly mentioned the Children’s Contact Centre and
its work to maintain both parents having a relationship with their
children under difficult circumstances. Jenny clearly showed her
passion for getting the best outcome for children, sometimes admitting
that she also has deal with the conflict, cohesion, alienation and often
waring parties that we all encounter in our daily work.
Unfortunately the rain came down for our afternoon displays and that
certainly dampened the day. Many thanks to all the stalls that
participated for the event that was super. Paper finally arrived to so we
could not ask for more except someone forgot to order sunshine. We
are all gearing up now for Naidoc Week so hope to see you all there on
the 10th July at Queen’s Park.
Media Release:
Attorney General’s Department – Family Court of Australia Appointment:
http://www.qldfamilylawnet.org.au/articles/default/appointment-family-courtaustralia
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/health-minister-cameron-dickannounces-suicide-prevention-training-for-hospital-staff-20150603-ghfy9i.html
Multiple-perpetrator Domestic Violence:
http://www.qldfamilylawnet.org.au/resources/greater-brisbane/multipleperpetrator-domestic-violence
Global Understandings of Domestic Violence:
http://www.qldfamilylawnet.org.au/resources/greater-brisbane/globalunderstandings-domestic-violence
Contact Me
Marlie Tudor
(07) 4840 0655
0457 647 335
marliet@centacare.net
35 Milton Street Mackay,
Qld 4740
JUNE 2015
EDITION 12
MARK LATHAM
I always find when I see Mark Latham pops up in media, it is going to be
very controversial and sure enough it is as you can see below:Jury out on political feminism
Posted on June 3, 2015 by Jackie Waugh
Former leader of the Australian Labor Party and now columnist, Mark
Latham, has been partly successful in his application to strike out
imputations claimed by columnist Lisa Pryor, arising out of an article
published in the Australian Financial Review and alleged by Ms Pryor to
be defamatory. The Supreme Court of New South Wales found that four
of the six imputations claimed are capable of arising and will go to a jury
to be determined.
Background
Ms’ Pryor v Mark Latham
Mark Latham, a former leader of the Australian Labor Party and now a
regular columnist, wrote an article for the Australian Financial Review
which was published under the headline “Why left feminists don’t like
kids”. Mr. Latham’s article focused on an earlier article written in the
Sydney Morning Herald by Lisa Pryor, also a regular columnist.
According to Mr. Latham’s piece, Ms Pryor has said in her article that
the only way she can cope with “raising two small children while
studying medicine full time” is through “caffeine and anti-depressants”.
Mr. Latham went on to write in his article that he felt depressed himself
at the thought of a Fairfax columnist describing one of life’s greatest
responsibilities as requiring neurochemical assistance. He then went on
to ask “Why do people like this have children in the first place?”and
continued with a point about what he called left feminist campaigning.
He also opined that inner-city feminists know little of the parenting joys
he described and stated that “more often than not, they don’t like
children and don’t want to be with them. They use political feminism as
a release valve, trying to free them from nature’s way”.
Court proceedings
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Marlie Tudor
(07) 4840 0655
Ms Pryor commenced proceedings in the Supreme Court of New South
Wales against Mr. Latham for defamation and claimed damages. She
alleged that the article written by Mr. Latham carries imputations that
she:
0457 647 335
marliet@centacare.net
35 Milton Street Mackay,
Qld 4740

1. does not love her children
JUNE 2015
EDITION 12



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2. is so bad a mother that she hates her own children
3. publically professed her infant children to be evil and
threatening
4. suffers from a psychoneurotic disorder
5. is a coward who pops pills instead of facing up to her
responsibilities as an adult and a mother, and
6. callously claimed publically that her infant children pushed her
onto anti-depressants, knowing that they would one day learn of
this claim.
Mr. Latham disputed the capacity and form of each of the imputations
pleaded by Ms Pryor. Pursuant to a Supreme Court Practice Note (SC CL
4) that dispute, namely whether the meanings specified by Ms Pryor in
her statement of claim should (in due course) go the jury when the
matter comes on for trial is to be determined at the first listing of the
matter before Mr. Latham is required to file his defence.
Ms’ Pryor v Mark Latham
FAMILY COURT FEE’S AND
CHARGES
Contact Me
Marlie Tudor
(07) 4840 0655
0457 647 335
marliet@centacare.net
35 Milton Street Mackay,
Qld 4740
Findings:- Her Honour McCallum J found that imputations 1, 2, 5 and 6
were reasonably capable of arising and struck out imputations 3 and 4:
Pryor v Latham [2015] NSWSC 529.
Information on proposed Family Court fee changes.
Senate moves to strike out new divorce tax: Judith Ireland: The Sydney
Morning Herald: June 20th
The Abbott government's plan to increase divorce application
charges by $350 from July 1 faces a rocky break up of its own: the
Greens are confident they can strike the fee hike down in the
Senate. The government announced a range of Federal Circuit,
Federal and Family Court fee increases in the May Budget, including
raising the cost of divorce applications from $845 to $1195. Subpoena
fees will go up from $55 to $120.
These changes, which have been criticised by lawyers as "cynical" and a
"heavy blow to access to justice" are due to raise $87.4 million over four
years. Of this, $22.5 million will go to "streamlining" the courts, while
$30 million will refurbish court buildings. The Greens' legal affairs
spokeswoman Penny Wright said it was "completely inappropriate to
use family breakdown as a cash cow for the government".
Senator Wright said that divorce applications were very straightforward
and usually took only 10 minutes each. "It is not these cases that are
soaking up the court's resources," she said. Attorney-General George
Brandis tabled a regulation setting out the changes this week, but the
Senate has the power to strike them out and the Greens plan to move a
disallowance motion next Tuesday. Labour has been highly critical of
the fee increases, and the Greens are confident they will gain the extra
JUNE 2015
JUNE
201512
EDITION
Newsletter 10
FEES LISTED
Ms’ Pryor v Mark Latham
crossbench votes they would also need to stop all the changes from
taking effect. To read the complete article please click on The Sydney
Morning Herald
Family Court of Australia Court scheduled fee rises & changes from
July 1st.
Application for consent orders
$155
Application for declaration as to validity/nullity*
$1195
Initiating application (family law)
$320
Initiating application (children & financial orders)
$530
Response to initiating application (family law)
$320
Interim application
$110
Setting down for hearing fee (defended matter)
$805
Daily hearing fee (for each hearing day, excluding the first hearing $805
day)
Conciliation conference
$370
Issue subpoena
$55
Notice of appeal to full court including an appeal from the Federal $1270
Circuit Court
Application for leave to appeal
$1270
Application under the Trans Tasman Proceedings Act 2010
$110
Filing an application to register a New Zealand judgment
$100
Credit card payment form
You may need this form when making a payment.
This form must be included with any mailed application or request
when you pay by credit card. Please do not fax this form unless you
have been directly requested to do so by the Court.
The Credit card payment form is available on the forms page.
Contact Me
Marlie Tudor
Contact Me
(07) 4840 0655
Marlie Tudor
0457 647 335
(07) 4840 0655
marliet@centacare.net
0457 647 335
marliet@centacare.net
35 Milton Street Mackay,
Qld 4740
35 Milton Street Mackay,
PLEASE NOTE:
GST does NOT apply to any of the fees
* In some cases a reduced fee may be sought for a divorce
application, or decree of nullity, or in respect of other fees, an
exemption if you hold certain government concession cards or you
can demonstrate financial hardship.
where there is more than one applicant to an application, all
applicants must meet the requirements for an exemption/reduction
or the full fee applies
JUNE
EDITION 12
WHITEHEAD V MOON
COURT OF APPEALS UNUSAL CASE:Although the plaintiff proved an intentional interference with her physical
integrity on the night that she engaged in non-consensual sexual intercourse
with her work supervisor, her $668,856 damages award was reduced on appeal.
According to the Australian Capital Territory’s Court of Appeal, the Master at first
instance had not afforded the defendant procedural fairness by awarding
$10,000 for aggravated damages against him for the aggressive way in which he
had conducted himself during the trial, as that was not a basis pleaded by the
plaintiff.
Background facts (long read but interesting)
Family Relationship Advice
Line is a national
telephone services
established to assist
families affected by
relationship or separation
issues. 1800 050 321
Sharon Whitehead and Michael Moon first met when they were both working for
the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs in August 2005. On 1
November 2006, the two visited sex shops during their lunch break, and then
returned to work and engaged in intimate activity in an elevator, and then
engaged in sexual activity in a boardroom. Two days later, Ms Whitehead
commenced working at the Department of Veteran Affairs. On 8 November
2006, the two met for lunch and afterwards engaged in sexual activity in Ms
Whitehead’s car.
In January 2007, Mr Moon began working for the Child Support Agency. In May
of that year, Mr Moon asked Ms Whitehead to lunch to talk about the prospects
of her coming to work at the Child Support Agency. At that meeting Ms
Whitehead indicated that should she take up the position, she would not sleep
with him and that he should have more respect for his current partner.
In August 2007, Ms Whitehead commenced work at the Child Support Agency
under the supervision of Mr Moon. On 13 August 2007, the two flew from
Canberra to Sydney to attend a two-day conference commencing the following
day. Prior to attending the conference, it was agreed they would share a twobedroom, two-bathroom apartment and that each would have their own
bedroom.
Contact Me
Marlie Tudor
(07) 4840 0655
0457 647 335
marliet@centacare.net
35 Milton Street Mackay,
Qld 4740
On their first night in Sydney the two consumed alcohol and spent time looking
through sex shops on Oxford Street. When they returned to their apartment
complex, Ms Whitehead smoked a cigarette downstairs, while Mr Moon headed
up to the apartment. Ms Whitehead arrived at the apartment five or ten minutes
later and proceeded to have a shower in her bathroom. Mr Moon entered Ms
Whitehead’s bathroom and asked if he could soap her back. Ms Whitehead said
she rejected his offer and he left immediately. Mr Moon said he kissed her on
the lips before leaving the bathroom.
It was both Ms Whitehead and Mr Moon’s evidence that Mr Moon entered her
bedroom after she had finished her shower and she was in bed with the lights
out. He said he was wearing black boxer shorts. She said he was naked. Ms
JUNE
EDITION 12
Whitehead said she repeatedly asked Mr Moon to leave and was scared of him
and was worried about the possibility of losing her job. He climbed on top of her.
At some stage her pyjama top came up around her neck, causing her to have
difficulty breathing. Because of this, she removed her top. Sexual intercourse
then took place.
The following day the two attended the conference together and went out for a
meal in Kings Cross. They again attended the conference on the second day,
watched a movie in the apartment before separately going to bed. When Ms
Whitehead got home she was feeling upset about what had happened in Sydney.
She rang a counsellor who advised her to go to the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre.
She returned to work on 16 August 2007 but found that being near Mr Moon
meant that she couldn’t get the incident out of her mind. She did not go to work
on Friday, 17 August 2007 and realised she could not return to the workplace.
She felt suicidal. On Monday 20 August, she went with her counsellor to the
Canberra Rape Crisis Centre. Her parents came from Victoria to look after her
and the incident was reported to the Queanbeyan Police Station. Ms Whitehead
did not want to take the matter any further.
WHITEHEAD V MOON
Ms Whitehead commenced proceedings against Mr Moon in assault and battery
but the case was essentially conducted as an action in battery. She pleaded that
on the night in question Mr Moon came into her bedroom uninvited and,
without consent, lay on top of her, kissed her, and engaged in sexual intercourse.
According to Mr Moon, Ms Whitehead had not explicitly consented to engaging
in the sexual conduct, but submitted that her consent was inferred from her
conduct. As the case was one of battery, once the plaintiff proved an intentional
interference with her physical integrity, the defendant would be held liable
unless he could establish one of the available defences, including consent.
At first instance
The Master considered Ms Whitehead to be an honest and truthful witness with
any discrepancies in evidence being of only minor concern. On the other hand,
Mr Moon’s evidence was considered to have at times been “deliberately
falsified” but short of finding that he had lied, the court hypothesised that a man
of his “sexual experience may have confused some of the things” that occurred
on the night in question.
Contact Me
Marlie Tudor
(07) 4840 0655
0457 647 335
marliet@centacare.net
35 Milton Street Mackay,
Qld 4740
The Master found that Mr Moon came into Ms Whitehead’s room uninvited and
“forced himself upon her”. He accepted that Ms Whitehead became resigned to
her fate and did not fight him off and that she kissed him and played a part in the
following acts. However, the Master made a clear finding that Ms Whitehead
was not consenting to the sexual activity and accordingly found that a trespass to
Ms Whitehead’s person had occurred, entitling her to damages. The Master
awarded Ms Whitehead damages of $668,856 including $10,000 in aggravated
damages for the “highly confrontational and at times aggressive” crossexamination of Ms Whitehead during the proceedings.
JUNE
EDITION 12
On appeal
Mr Moon appealed. He submitted that the Master did not take into
consideration the whole of the evidence, in particular the evidence of the
previous relationship between the parties, and their previous sexual encounters,
in determining whether he had established that Ms Whitehead consented to the
sexual activity on 13 August. With regard to the $10,000 award of aggravated
damages, Mr Moon argued that he had not been afforded procedural fairness.
He drew the court to the closing submissions of Ms Whitehead’s regarding the
basis for her claim for aggravated damages as being Mr Moon’s denial of events
to the insurance investigator and his denial in the proceedings before the
Master.
According to the appeal court, the Master not only considered the previous
sexual history between the parties, but made a positive finding of no consent to
sex on the night in question. There was ample evidence upon which the Master
was entitled to find that Mr Moon had not satisfied the onus of proving that Ms
Whitehead had consented to the sexual intercourse. Consequently, Mr Moon’s
appeal against liability failed.
However, the Appeal Court was satisfied that the Master fell into error by failing
to afford procedural fairness to Mr Moon. Ms Whitehead did not seek
aggravated damages based upon the manner in which the hearing before the
Master had been conducted but instead based the claim on Mr Moon’s continual
denial of her version of the events of 13 August. As the aggravated damages
award component was modest, the matter was not remitted for further hearing
but the award varied in favour of Ms Whitehead to $658,856: Moon v Whitehead
[2015] ACTCA 17.
Associate Professor Annabel Taylor (CQUniversity Mackay)
Interesting Reads /
Reports
(EVAWQ)
Contact Me
Marlie Tudor
(07) 4840 0655
0457 647 335
marliet@centacare.net
35 Milton Street Mackay,
Qld 4740
No to Violence CDFVR
At the start of the year, I began with attending the first Ending Violence Against
Women Queensland (EVAWQ) meeting in Brisbane. This is a milestone
achievement for violence against women and children that offers an avenue for
both domestic violence providers and sexual assault services to work together to
eliminate violence. The hard work of DVConnect and other key services has led
to this network developing. Another meeting first for me was with the
Queensland Domestic Violence Services Network (QDVSN) which was held in
Toowoomba and here I learned much about how services operate and some of
the challenges they face in maintaining high quality support for victim/survivors
of abuse. Other memorable events that occurred in February were meeting with
Professor Liz Kelly and listening to her presentations in Brisbane, meeting Dame
Quentin Bryce again and meeting with the Queensland Coroner and the
Domestic Violence Death Review Unit. The report on the role of domestic
violence fatality review teams in this issue of the Reader was one of the
outcomes of this last visit.
JUNE
EDITION 12
Interesting Reads /
Reports
CQUNIVERSITY REPORT
As some of you will know the centre is now positioned in the School of Nursing
and Midwifery in CQU and the School is offering support to CDFVR in the
development of a Graduate Certificate in Domestic and Family Violence Practice.
This is another exciting innovation that we are planning to launch later in 2015
and we hope that this will be of interest to many of you. The second year of the
program involves selecting electives of ‘working with victims’, ‘men’s behaviour
change interventions’ and ‘child safety and domestic and family violence’. We
are endeavouring to keep the costs down for this course as much as we can.
There will be lots more information on our website in the months to come on
this qualification.
In relation to research, our contribution towards national research for ANROWS
(Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety) continues at a
pace. Another wonderful development is that CQU has offered to provide the
centre with a Post-doctoral position for a period of twelve months. This is going
to assist us in our research work enormously and we are very grateful to the Pro
Vice Chancellor of Research Professor Grant Stanley for this contribution to the
centre.
Finally, I think Nelson Mandela’s thoughts about education which many of you
may be familiar with might be a good way to end this message for the reader.
Mandela said “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to
change the world”. This seems particularly applicable while planning for
Domestic Violence Prevention Month in May.
Associate Professor Annabel Taylor.
MACKAY REGIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION NETWORK
The committee are now completing the Draft Strategic Direction facilitated by
Cat McPherson, Network Developer, Wesley Life Force. Cat worked with the 26
representatives including both service providers and community members. The
next stage is the structure for elected executive committee. Membership forms
are being filled out of service providers and community individuals.
Small budget from seed funding and community grants, sponsorship and fund
raising will follow. There will be sub-committee formed and nominations
received at the next meeting.
It is with regret that we Cat McPherson leaving and being replaced with a
Network Developer arrive as Cat is moving to England to be with her partner.
Next meeting will be 28th July, 2015 at 3:00pm venue Mackay regional Council
meeting room. Look forward to a large attendance.
Contact Me
Marlie Tudor
(07) 4840 0655
0457 647 335
marliet@centacare.net
35 Milton Street Mackay,
Qld 4740
Contact Me
Marlie Tudor
(07) 4840 0655
JUNE 2015
EDITION
12
EDITION 12
123 MAGIC RETURNS
11th June 2015
FAMILYLAWPATHWAYSCONFERENCEMACKAY
Contact Me
Contact Me
Marlie Tudor
Marlie Tudor
(07) 4840 0655
(07) 4840 0655
0457 647 335
0457 647 335
marliet@centacare.net
marliet@centacare.net
35 Milton Street Mackay,
Qld
4740 Street Mackay,
35 Milton
Qld 4740
The conference was engaged in Community Services Expo and information day
for professional in Mackay and the Whitsundays Region. The guest speakers
contributed information and service changes to the regional.
On behalf of all members, steering committee and FLPN Funding it is a pleasure
to express our thanks to them for their engaging and informative presentations.
Also those who are not engaged in Community Services and NGO Organisation
we take this opportunity to thank them for their valuable time.
The opportunity to ask questions was invaluable a great opportunity to gain
information about current funding and where that is going into our community.
Great amount of information from Police (Camellia Tibet) and also Family Law
Solicitor (Jenny Hamilton) was much appreciated by all.
Mackay Family Support Alliance, Child Safety, Legal Aid, Mackay Regional
Council Community Services, Wesley Foundation Suicide Prevention, RSA Men’s
Support Group, Mackay Contact Centre, all gave valuable time to contribute to
the success of the first conference.
Our local MP Julianne Gilbert gave a wonderful opening speech and gave praise
to all the services for the contribution they make in Mackay and Whitsundays
Region. Julianne expressed her wishes and hopes for the future of Mackay and
all the services that we can offer to our community and larger region.
The conference rounded off with the afternoon Expo with you could say inclement
weather conditions but many thanks to those who solider on till 4:00pm.
Hope everyone has a wonderful July and regrets it’s a little late getting the
newsletter out, but we have had technology problems for the past week and are
only just back on air.
Contact Me
Marlie Tudor
(07) 4840 0655
0457 647 335
marliet@centacare.net
35 Milton Street Mackay,
Qld 4740