Website of the Lone Fathers Association of Australia and
The Office of the Status of Men and Their Families
Activities and Services
The LFAA conducted a National Conference on Family Law at Parliament House in June 2005. That Conference, entitled “Systems failing fathers: a fatherless society in waiting”, was addressed by many members of the LFA and other men's groups, and by the Attorney General, the Minister for Family and Community Services, the Acting Shadow Attorney-General, other members of Parliament, the Chief Executive Officers of the Family Court and the CSA, the Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner, and distinguished academics. Important resolutions were passed at the Conference providing a strong basis for pursuing the Government's new family law initiatives in a practical way. A further national LFA conference is planned for mid-2007 to examine progress being made in implementing the new family law reforms on shared parenting.
The LFA provides policy advice to government, conducts information meetings, and provides a free telephone information and counselling service throughout Australia dealing with family law and related matters, a free legal service in the ACT, and face-to-face counselling sessions for unemployed fathers on behalf of the CSA. It also maintains the present Web site, and publishes a bi-monthly newsletter. The LFA conducted for some years a men's and children's crisis and accommodation service in the ACT for homeless men and their children. A number of clients of that service informed the LFA that the assistance provided saved their lives.
The LFA is very familiar with the problems faced by men who are simultaneously in a low-income situation and faced with family breakdown. Problems may, inter alia, include alcohol and/or drug abuse, financial problems, family breakdown, illness, domestic violence, and/or crime, as well as the usual emotional and legal issues. The skills of LFA personnel as advisers reflect the LFA's concerns about fairness and equality for both partners and their children. The organisation's knowledge of the impact of the Child Support Scheme on its clients is considered to be second to none.
The services offered by the Lone Fathers Association include:
