An Exposure Draft of the Family Law Amendment (Shared Parental Responsibility) Bill 2005 (Cth)1 (the Bill) was released by the Federal Attorney-General on 28 June 2005. The Attorney-General asked the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs (the Committee) to review the draft Bill and report by 11 August 2005. The Committee in turn invited community submissions by 15 July 2005. The Bill amends the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) (FLA) by implementing a number of recommendations of the 2003 ‘Every Picture Tells a Story’ report of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family and Community Affairs2 and subsequent government proposals put forward in the 2004 ‘New Approach to the Family Law System’ discussion paper,3 with funding being announced in the 2005–2006 Federal Budget.4 In essence, the changes ‘aim to bring about a cultural shift in how family separation is managed: away from litigation and towards co-operative parenting’.5 The following comprises a submission made to the Committee responding to the proposed changes, slightly expanded where necessary to provide background information on the proposals.