Overhaul of family law gives children priority

PROPOSED changes to the Family Law Act will offer unprecedented protection to children who have at times been treated as ''chattels'', a Queensland MP says.

Shayne Neumann, with 20 years' experience in family law, says the planned changes released yesterday are a fundamental shift away from the interests of parents back to the interests of children.

"Children are not chattels and these changes recognize that," he said.

The Commonwealth Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, and NSW Attorney-General, John Hatzistergos, released an outline of the proposed changes.

They radically alter the approach taken in 2006 under the Howard government, which changed the Family Law Act to emphasize shared parenting.

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