ADRAC has an acute interest in dispute in the family field and has a number of family subject experts on its Council. Following the retirement of Shirli Kirschner from the Council, ADRAC sought a further family expert in the form of a respected family lawyer to assist with family matters generally, but also to assist with the major response to the ALRC family law reference that ADRAC planned. ADRAC found such a person in Susan Hamilton-Green of Melbourne, a renowned expert in

ADRAC decided last year to examine Conciliation in some detail. Early scoping work suggested Conciliation was a widely used and incompletely described DR process. It seemed usually associated with legislation but differed in some basic ways from mediation. ADRAC is exploring the full extent of its use, how it fits into the DR firmament and how its many practitioners might be recognised and supported. In early 2017 ADRAC conducted a limited literature review and traversed all

In March this year, the then-Commonwealth Attorney-General, George Brandis, generated a reference to the Australian Law Reform Commission to carry out what is unquestionably a root and branch review of the family system and the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth). Respected Melbourne University Professor Helen Rhoades will chair the reference. It will be the first major review of the system since it was put in place in 1975 with legislation that at the time seemed radical. The Australi