What goes on in family courts is a mystery to most people – except those who are part of the proceedings.
The in-camera rule means there is very limited reporting of family law cases, with nobody ever identified.
But a new campaign argues that this rule can protect abusers – while the courts are being weaponised by the same abusive spouses that victims are trying to escape from.
Lisa Ann Wilkinson is a barrister specialising in family law, a board member of survivors' group SiSi and one of the women behind the Right to Transparency campaign.
She has represented women who were imprisoned for refusing to allow their abusive ex-partners access to their children.
\"I probably know about five or six women who were imprisoned when their children were resisting access with somebody who had either safety orders against them, breaches of safety orders, or convictions for domestic violence. They are still forced on access,\" she said.
\"I know one mother whose ex is in prison for assault and coercive control and [she] still has to bring the children in to visit them. And that woman can't talk about it, you know, they can't speak to it,\" she said.
\"And I now know of six or seven 18 plus year olds who were subject to these types of access orders who are now incredibly damaged... some of them are profoundly damaged by being forced into contact and the state's going to have a huge, huge problem on its hand with these now aged-out adults actually expressing the fact that the court process of forced access has caused them damage.\"
Lisa-Ann Wilkinson is the guest on today's episode of The Deirdre O'Shaughnessy Podcast.
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