Pre-Conference Workshop
Family Law Workshop
Sponsored by Anglicare WA
With the Family and Relationships Service Program in the midst of the most significant review since it was first established in 2006, family law workshop delegates will have an opportunity to provide input directly to the FRSP Lead Reviewer, Mr Andrew Metcalfe AO, who will be in attendance. Mr Metcalfe has indicated he will be presenting some high level thinking and reflections on the Family law services as part of the workshop but is also keen to hear from participants on the day. With the Review delivery date of 30 June 2024, this workshop provides a prime opportunity to engage, inform and influence.
In the afternoon, the Family Law team from the Attorney General’s Department has assembled a panel to present on the amendments to the Family Law Act which came into effect on 6 May 2024, with particular emphasis on the impact for family law services. The panellists include:
- Kathleen Denley, Assistant Secretary, Family Law Branch, Attorney-General’s Department (facilitator)
- Clare Moran, Senior Advisor Family Law, Relationships Australia Victoria
- Anne Marie-Rice, Senior Judicial Registrar, Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia
- The Hon John Faulks, Family Law Council
Following the panel discussion, workshop delegates will have the opportunity to share learnings and plans for implementation and integration of the amendments into daily practice.
Biography:
Andrew Metcalfe AO
Lead reviewer of the Family Relationship Services Program, Attorney-General’s Department
Andrew Metcalfe AO is leading the Review of the Family Relationships Services Program, which is due to report to the Attorney-General at the end of June 2024. The Australian Institute of Family Studies is supporting the Review.
Andrew is the current National President of the Institute of Public Administration Australia. He retired last year from the role of Secretary of the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and as Australia’s Director of Biosecurity.
In all, Andrew was a Commonwealth departmental secretary for 12 years, heading three departments. He was appointed or reappointed as a Secretary by five different Prime Ministers, and directly worked with 15 portfolio ministers.
Andrew was born and grew up in Toowoomba, Queensland; and studied at the Toowoomba Grammar School and the University of Queensland (BA 1980, LLB 1985). He has also undertaken business administration studies at INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France.
Andrew was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2012. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration Australia. In 2010 he was named as the `Federal Government Leader of the Year’ by the Institute of Chartered Accountants.
Kathleen Denley
Assistant Secretary, Family Law Branch, Attorney-General’s Department
Kathleen Denley is the Assistant Secretary of the Family Law Branch in the Attorney-General’s Department. She has held senior leadership roles across a range of issues in the Attorney-General’s portfolio, including in international family law, legal assistance, Native Title and bankruptcy.
Clare Moran
Senior Advisor Family Law, Relationships Australia Victoria
Clare Moran is the Senior Advisor Family Law at Relationships Australia Victoria. Clare is an accredited family dispute resolution practitioner and practicing lawyer. Clare has a particular interest in alternative dispute resolution, family law (parenting and property), child protection and family violence matters.
Anne-Marie Rice
Senior Judicial Registrar and Executive Director, National Registrar Operations and Practice, Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia
Senior Judicial Registrar Anne-Marie Rice is a multi-award winning lawyer, Accredited Family Law Specialist, Accredited Mediator and Arbitrator and Registered FDRP. Senior Judicial Registrar Rice began her career as a Legal Associate in the Family Court in 1998 and has been a prior executive member of the Family Law Section of the Law Council of Australia, a former member of various Queensland Law Society Committees including the Specialist Accreditation committee and a past FLPA (Qld) vice-president. She joined the Courts in July 2020 and, as a senior member of the leadership team, is responsible for the expansion of the Court’s dispute resolution programs and Registrar work practices.
Anne-Marie has been delivering local, national, and international keynote addresses, conference papers and workshops for lawyers and non-lawyers for 20 years. She has a philosophy that “conflict can be resolved without combat” and her acceptance speech after being named the 2018 WLAQ Woman Lawyer of the Year, in which she spoke of the exhaustion of a singularly aggressive approach to legal practice, became an industry and social media sensation. Anne-Marie taught the undergraduate Family Law subject at the University of Queensland for many years prior to joining the Court and she continues to teach the post graduate Mediation and Conflict Management Course at that university.
The Hon John Faulks
Family Law Council
The Honourable John Faulks was appointed as a judge of the Family Court of Australia in 1994, and Deputy Chief Justice of the Family Court in 2004. His many contributions to the court included oversight of the Magellan project, an interagency collaborative model of case management developed to deal with Family Court cases involving serious allegations of physical and sexual child abuse. John was also instrumental in the development of the Less Adversarial Trial process, and the initiative to address the needs of self-representing litigants within the Family Court. He retired from the Family Court in 2016, after 22 years of service.
He was appointed as a member of the Family Law Council in December 2021. In October 2017 he was appointed as a part-time ALRC Commissioner to assist in the Review of the Family Law System.
Prior to judicial appointment, John was in private practice for 26 years, as a barrister and solicitor. He has been President of the ACT Law Society, President of the Law Council of Australia, and Chair of the Family Law Council.
John is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Canberra, and an occasional lecturer at his alma mater, the Australian National University. He is also currently a mediator, and Chair of the National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature.