House debates

Wednesday, 20 June 2007

Statements by Members

Men’s and Fathers Family Friendly Policy Forum

9:44 am

Photo of Anthony ByrneAnthony Byrne (Holt, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | | Hansard source

I rise today to raise in this place a very important forum that is going to be held in Parliament House today—and it is well known to the member for Throsby—and that is the Men’s and Fathers Family Friendly Policy Forum. They are going to be meeting politicians from all parties throughout the day, and the object of this forum is to turn the tide of fatherlessness in Australia. In the words of Warwick Marsh—and he is going to be talking to us later on today—fatherlessness can be defined as the absence of an active, positive father’s influence in the lives of children. Fatherlessness is both a natural and a spiritual problem in the community.

We in the community have seen the impact of fatherlessness on a generation of young males. I do not need to document this here, but people such as Dr Bruce Robinson have estimated the cost to the community to be in the order of about $13 billion per year. But this forum, facilitated by the Fatherhood Foundation since 2003, has sought to find answers to the problem. This forum in 2003, by the way, was attended by men’s groups, family law reform groups, education and training people, institutions, academics and journalists—a cross-section of the community. At this forum it was agreed there would be a 12-point plan launched in a bipartisan fashion. Many of the points raised in this forum were the driving points for some of the reforms and legislative changes that we have seen, particularly in the area of child support.

I was particularly impressed by the 14 strategies adopted by this group in 2003 to address the concept of responsible fatherhood. Some of these were: mentoring for men and boys; transition to manhood; marriage and relationship training, which is incredibly important, particularly I think for young males; funding for fatherhood services; positive education on fatherhood; an increased level of male teachers; and positive men’s health and wellbeing services—and funding for those services is vital.

In closing, I would like to reflect on the moving spirit behind this particular forum—and they are constituents of the member for Throsby—Warwick and Alison Marsh. Warwick Marsh, basically by dint of sheer will, has been raising the level of awareness about fatherlessness in an appropriate way. Some will be saying that in some organisations it is not raised appropriately, but this gentleman and the forum that he facilitates raise this issue in an appropriate way—in a way that seeks to find solutions to problems that are troubling our community. He puts the onus not just on the legislative system but on men themselves. I would like to commend Warwick in this chamber today for the service that he provides to the community, because we have seen as a consequence of his untiring efforts changes to legislation that have helped improve relationships between men and women and also, most importantly, access to children. Long may Warwick’s endeavours continue.