A second round of public consultation has been completed by the Independent Panel considering the 2014 family justice system reforms.

Panel Chair Rosslyn Noonan says she is happy with the feedback and the public submissions will result in a stronger final report, the Ministry of Justice newsletter Justice Matters says.

The first round of public consultation revealed dissatisfaction and frustration with the 2014 reforms to the Family Court. Many people who made submissions spoke of significant barriers to timely, fair, long-lasting resolutions to disputes.

Russell Bates, Independent Panel Secretariat who is supporting the panel, said he’s pleased with how the consultation went.

“We had a very successful first round of public consultation late last year. Our team arranged panel visits to 14 towns and cities and organised over 110 meetings. This generated over 500 submissions. Also, the Ministry’s digital team helped with an online submissions tool called Citizen Space which generated 107 submissions.”

The panel sought public feedback between 23 January to 1 March 2019 on suggested reforms.

It is required to submit its final report to Justice Minister Andrew Little in May 2019.