Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to commend Parents Beyond Breakup, who offer outstanding support and guidance for families in crisis in the Berowra electorate and across Australia. I'd particularly like to acknowledge their CEO, Gillian Hunt, their chairman, Brendan Blomeley, and their staff and volunteers for their dedicated work. Parents Beyond Breakup is a national suicide prevention charity focused on supporting separated parents experiencing trauma through family breakdown. They also support parents and grandparents with child access issues. Parents Beyond Breakup has several streams, including Dads in Distress, Mums in Distress and Grandparents in Distress. The organisation consists of more than 50 dedicated volunteer peers, including separated mums, dads, grandparents and other people who want to make a positive difference to those most in need and most at risk. During 2021, Parents Beyond Breakup provided 1,451 face-to-face engagements, 1,429 online engagements and 1,778 helpline calls.

I was first approached by Campbell Lennox, the leader of the local Dads in Distress group, because of my work in suicide prevention. I was invited to a Dads in Distress session at Hornsby. I subsequently went to sessions in other parts of Sydney and was involved in briefing their senior leadership team. I was impressed by the way the organisation runs and the care and professionalism of their sessions. They operate in a safe, confidential and accepting environment for parents to share and receive support. Some people have been in the family law system for a long time, while others have just begun their journey. The aim of the sessions is to support people as they go through the system, focusing on not getting angry but navigating one of the most difficult experiences in a person's life. The group sessions help parents to develop skills to negotiate and build relationships with their children.

In 2020, 3,000 Australians died by suicide—a tragic statistic, with nearly nine people every day, and 65,000 people attempted to take their own lives. Research show that separated parents have a higher risk of attempting suicide and developing suicidal thoughts than other marital groups. In one Australian study, 23 per cent of alienated parents said they had attempted suicide in response to losing contact with their children. Losing contact with children can be one of the most distressing things a person can experience, and this is the focus of Parents Beyond Breakup.

Around 12 per cent of Australian children whose parents had separated had no contact with one of their parents a year after the separation. And around three per cent of separated parents use courts as their main pathway to parenting arrangements. These are predominantly families affected by family violence, child safety concerns and other complex issues. Parents Beyond Breakup encourages people not to get angry but to understand how the system works and how to navigate it. Their groups offer practical advice and peer support, and are constantly seeking to influence the direction of policy and support around people's experience of the family law system.

Parents Beyond Breakup's vision is that all children enjoy the best possible relationship with their parents. I'd like to thank everyone at Parents Beyond Breakup for the continuing support they give families across the electorate of Berowra and also across the country. They are a very important organisation.