Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Lawyers fight cuts to legal aid

By Sandra Conchie
Bay of Plenty Times·
16 Aug, 2013 12:30 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The Government's plan to slash access to legal aid as part of its planned overhaul of Family Court system has come under fire from a group of Tauranga family court lawyers.

If the Bill becomes law it will restrict the number of cases coming before the court, legal aid will be harder to obtain, and it will encourage parents to resolve matters themselves.

One of the key provisions of the Bill is to establish a Family Disputes Resolution process to encourage separating parents to resolve their custody disputes out of court.

It could see parents paying about $900 to take part in a family dispute resolution process.

But senior Tauranga family court lawyer Mary-Ann McCarty, speaking on behalf of a group of concerned lawyers in the city, said the shake-up of the Family Court was "absolutely frightening" and short-sighted.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Every other major court change has been made after a pilot-project trial period, but here we could see a Family Court system, which has been in place for 30 years, ended with the stroke of a pen.

"The Government, which seems hellbent on saving money, has forgotten the human element. This is not about us [lawyers], it's about the most vulnerable people in our community, our children, and other users of the court," she said

Ms McCarty said the bill took away legal safeguards for children at the centre of family proceedings.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"We accept there has been a huge blowout in legal aid costs but simply throwing the baby out with the bath water is not the answer,"she said.

Andrew Little, Labour's Justice spokesman, who met the group of lawyers this week, opposed the Bill.

One senior Tauranga family court lawyer said the review was "absolutely frightening", as it could leave vulnerable parties, particularly children, without legal protection.

Mr Little said far from providing a better process for parents separating and protecting vulnerable parties going through one of the most stressful times in their lives, the bill did the reverse.

"The expectation that parents will be able to, with the assistance of a single facilitator and without the benefit of legal advice, happily come together to settle their differences and quickly reach an agreement is unrealistic. Particularly when separating parents will each have a different view about what was best for their child," he said.

Mr Little said under the system only about 15 per cent of cases required a court hearing. "There is no doubt in my mind the changes are driven by fiscal considerations, and the Government has forgotten the human factors and complexities involved in settling custody disputes," he said.

Justice Minister Judith Collins said the cost of running the Family Court was rising and unsustainable.

Since July 2005, there had been a 63 per cent increase in expenditure for the court to $137 million-plus, but application numbers remained relatively stable and cases were taking longer on average to conclude. The Bill has gone through its second reading.

The 59 Family Courts in New Zealand deal with a range of issues, including:

Care of children by separating parents

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Care and protection issues from abuse or neglect

Child abduction

Domestic violence

Paternity issues

Relationship property

Separation and divorce dissolution

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

live
Bay of Plenty Times

Up to 50 people evacuated from homes after wild weather, clean-up begins

11 Jul 08:08 PM
Bay of Plenty Times

'Powerful example': Mum overcomes addiction to build a life helping others

11 Jul 06:00 PM
Bay of Plenty Times

Bay home crowd rallies behind netball's Magic

11 Jul 05:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Up to 50 people evacuated from homes after wild weather, clean-up begins
live

Up to 50 people evacuated from homes after wild weather, clean-up begins

11 Jul 08:08 PM

The North Island is expected to get off to a wet start this morning, with lingering rain.

'Powerful example': Mum overcomes addiction to build a life helping others

'Powerful example': Mum overcomes addiction to build a life helping others

11 Jul 06:00 PM
Bay home crowd rallies behind netball's Magic

Bay home crowd rallies behind netball's Magic

11 Jul 05:00 PM
Tearful hunter admits shooting and killing friend

Tearful hunter admits shooting and killing friend

11 Jul 05:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP