The Non Custodial Parents Party is not, in fact, a particularly new party, but so far they have had the good manners to stay off my ballot paper and thus off my radar. This year… well, they do have one candidate in Gippsland and they are talking about running in every state, so I’d better take a look at them. I’m going to say up-front that I’m not looking forward to doing this, because they have a whiff of Men’s Rights about them, and they are, at best, apparently oblivious to family violence and the sort of power dynamics that can make it both difficult and dangerous to expect families to work out custody arrangements between themselves.
Their tag-line is “…because children need both parents” and they introduce themselves as follows:
The party’s membership mainly consists of divorced and separated parents, their spouses and partners, grandparents, relatives, friends and anyone else who believes that children have a right to be cared for by both their parents.
Everyone is very welcome to join the Party – this is regardless of your marital or relationship status and regardless if you are have a different or same sex background. No questions are asked in that regard.
All parents, spouses, partners grandparents, relatives, friends and any interested persons are encouraged to join our political party. We are the only political party that specifically supports family law and child support issues.
I’m mildly amused by ‘no questions are asked in that regard’ with reference to same sex relationships.
Their aims are as follows:
The Aim of the Non-Custodial Parents Party (Equal Parenting) is to:
a. Minimise government interference in decisions that affect separated families.
and to
b. Maximise the initiative of individual parents to make those decisions.
The parents and the guardians of their children are the best people to determine what is the right thing to do for their children – not someone from either the Government or the Family Court.
