The Australian Psychological Society (APS) was invited to make a submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee's Inquiry into the Family Law Amendment Bill 2024.
This Bill is part of the Government’s commitment to family law reform. It follows a previous set of changes introduced in 2023, including reforms which were significantly informed by the APS’s previous submissions and advocacy.
Representing the profession of psychology in Australia, this submission addressed parts of the Bill which introduce a legal framework to safeguard "protected confidences" (which include psychologists’ session notes and conversations between psychologist and client within sessions), from being admitted into family law proceedings. These provisions aim to ensure that confidential and sensitive communications relating to a person’s health or mental health remain confidential unless deemed essential for the proceedings.
In our submission, the APS supported these provisions in the Bill and emphasised the importance of protecting the confidentiality of therapeutic relationships within a family law context. We previously expressed our concern that these provisions were unexpectedly dropped from the previous set of amendments to the Family Law Act, but we are pleased that the provisions have been re-introduced and are now expressed in clearer and stronger terms.
We noted that this framework is vital for maintaining trust and openness in therapeutic relationships, especially in family law contexts where psychologists’ clients have often experienced trauma or high levels of vulnerability.
The APS welcomed the Senate Committee's report into the Bill. One of the Committee's recommendations, which is consistent with the APS position, is that the Bill be amended to require that a party seeking access to protected confidences demonstrate their relevance to the legal proceedings before any disclosure.
The APS looks forward to working with the Attorney-General’s Department to ensure the Bill's final implementation balances the integrity of psychological practice and the needs of clients with the effective and efficient operation of the family law system.
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