Give Dad a go
By MICHELLE CAZZULINO and
ANGELA KAMPER
20th June 2003

YOUNG boys need a male role model in their lives, Prime Minister John Howard said yesterday paving the way for a broad-ranging changes to child custody laws. Mr Howard yesterday singled out young boys as the group most likely to be affected when their parents separated or divorced. He said this was exacerbated where there were no close uncles or relatives because there were now fewer male teachers. It is a view that has led him to consider allowing immediate joint-custody to divorced dads and mums. He said that too often young boys were growing up without a significant male role model until well into their teenage years.

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Ian Cuttance gave up work to look after his daughter Tamara.

While still happily married, Chris Richard yesterday said playing a major part in the life of his three-year-old son Nicholai was important to him.

Mr Howard said the proposed review would consider whether joint custody should be awarded automatically in cases where both parents are deemed fit and able to continue caring for their children.

"We should be willing to have another look at it," Mr Howard said. "If a boy lives with his

mother, sees little of his father, has no older brothers or close uncles or close family male adult friends and typically might go to a primary school where there are very few male teachers, it's often not until the boy is 15 or 16 that he comes across a male role model with which he can identify," he said.

The Family Court currently determines custody on a case-by-case basis, according to the best interests of the child.

In cases where the mother was the primary caregiver and the father rarely saw his sons, they were more likely to miss out on spending important time with one another, Mr Howard said.

Mr Richard, from Alexandria, said if he were a single dad it would be important for him to see his son regularly.

"A father figure is important to make them feel loved and give them extra strength when they need it," he said. "If the father's happy because he is seeing his kids then the kids are happy too."

While the proposal was criticised by the Federal Opposition, it was welcomed by the Shared Parenting Council, a lobby group comprising several men's rights organisations.

Federal director Geoffrey Greene, who shares custody of his two children with his former partner, said his son, in particular, was "thriving" under the arrangement.

"He's at the top of his class at school and I'm able to be there for him when he needs me," Mr Greene said.

"Parents who separate haven't committed a crime, so the fact that they're in a court scenario [to determine custody of their children] doesn't make sense at all.

"We'd like to see a system of mandatory mediation put in place as well, so that the best interests of the child can be served . . . by allowing them to have day-to-day interaction with both parents."

Statistics showed the Family Court ordered joint custody in only 3 per cent of cases.

In 76 per cent of cases, the mother was awarded custody, while the father got custody 21 per cent of the time.

But Labor's legal affairs spokesman Robert McClelland said it was the responsibility of judges, not politicians, to decide which parent was best placed to care for their children.

His arguments were endorsed by Sole Parents Union president Kathleen Swinbourne, who said factors like finances and the distance between the parents' homes had to be considered before a single resolution was applied to all cases.

"We would all like fathers to take more responsibility . . . but this is not the way to do it," she said. "Joint custody is not in the interests of the children in every situation."

For 30-year-old Surry Hills first-time father Ian Cuttance, the thought that he might not have access to his 10-month-old daughter Tamara Grace every day was completely unthinkable.

Mr Cuttance described his only child as "the love of my life" and said he had taken a year off work as a chef so he wouldn't miss anything during her first 12 months.

"She gets up at 6am every morning, and I get up with her," he said.

"People think I'm crazy for doing it, but I don't mind – it's excellent.

"She took her first steps a fortnight ago – she was just watching the pigeons in the park and then off she went.

"She really is the best thing that's ever happened to me and I can't imagine what my life would be like without her."

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