Legal system places NSW children at risk

Children and young people are slipping through the cracks of state and federal legal systems, putting them at risk of ending up in abusive family situations, a NSW parliamentary report had found.

The Children and Young People Committee's parliamentary report released Thursday said family law matters in Australia were being hampered by state and federal miscommunication and conflict between the NSW child protection system, the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia.

Last year there were an estimated 126,000 children reported at risk of significant harm in NSW.

Indigenous children remain over-represented in the child protection system.

Committee chair Peter Sidgreaves said the report found misalignment between the state child protection and federal family law jurisdictions was putting children and young people in harm's way.

"Keeping children safe from harm is of paramount importance," Mr Sidgreaves said.

"We must ensure that systems designed to protect children work effectively and consistently, so that no child falls through the cracks.

"Witnesses told us about cases where a parent, often a child's father, may have abused a child or committed family violence.

"But due to inconsistencies and poor communication between the federal family law system and the state child protection system, an abusive parent may end up with custody or access to these children.

"These outcomes are unacceptable, and create serious risk of further abuse."

The committee discussed the case of Sydney teenagers Jack and Jennifer Edwards, who were shot dead by their estranged father John Edwards in 2018.

The financial planner and a former Australian Defence Forces member had a long history of violence towards his domestic partners and children. He later took his own life.

The teenagers' mother Olga Edwards died by suicide five months after the murder of her children

A 2020 coronial inquest found significant failings by the independent children's lawyer appointed to represent Jack, 15, and Jennifer, 13, led to the court ordering weekly contact visits with their father. 

This was in clear opposition to the children's wishes and placed them at risk of harm, the committee found.

Among its 15 recommendations, the committee said children and young people should be afforded the opportunity to speak in their own words in court proceedings where significant decisions are often made for them.

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