Family law inquiry sees ways to end harm

Delays in the family law system are wreaking havoc on young children, mothers and fathers, a federal parliamentary inquiry has warned as it calls for more funding and more specialist registrars.

“We need the Morrison government to stop the words and start acting,” committee member and Labor MP Graham Perrett told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.

“The government today could appoint registrars, the government today could increase legal aid funding.”

The parliamentary committee has handed down an interim report making 29 bipartisan recommendations, including ways to make the process safer for children, capping lawyers fees and a call to fund 25 to 30 more registrars to crush backlogs and delays.

The committee recommends more funding to legal aid and community legal centres, including looser means testing to increase legal assistance to vulnerable families.