Bill no 165 : another botched family law reform?

Abstract

The Bill consists of a meagre 12 provisions, out of which clause 1 is the short title and commencement provision, and clause 2 simply states that for the purposes of Part I of that Bill “Code” means “Criminal Code”. The ‘reform’ is contained in less than four and a half pages of text. Clause 3 introduces a new contravention in the Criminal Code: “when ordered by a court or so bound by a contract to have access to a child, fails to exercise such access or, unless such failure constitutes a more serious offence, fails to return the child at the time so ordered or agreed, without just cause”. I agree that the failure to provide access to a child by one spouse or partner to the other needs to be addressed by law as that is a social phenomenon causing pain and suffering. [extract].