Winner takes all

Dreyfus is also tossing out the other key sections which gave dads hope of fair treatment, namely 65DAA which requires courts to consider equal time or substantial/significant time, as a possible parenting option.

As Parkinson points out, the proposed new laws "stripped almost all references which encourage the meaningful involvement of both parents in relation to the child after separation" – references which have been used for almost three decades to inform negotiations for parents who have "bargained in the shadow of the law." And equally, to guide lawyers, mediators and family consultants helping parents through this process. The risk is we could go back to vicious winner-takes-all battles for the children – described by family lawyer Geoff Sinclair in the AFR as "full-on disputes – there was no silver medal. You either won or lost, and the prize was the children." Sinclair is hopeful this won't happen.

Now the new family law will be all about safety. The first consideration under the proposed legislation is what orders are best to promote safety for the child or carers. That's hardly a surprise. Feminists have been using the violence card to undermine father's contact with their children since the 2006 laws were first introduced, with constant claims about violent dads putting children at risk, and legal efforts to beef up safety considerations working very effectively to shut fathers out of children's lives.

They've done a brilliant job hushing up the key statistic which puts a lie to the claim that so many dads pose a risk to their children – namely that only 1.2% of women are physically assaulted by their male partner or ex-parent each year in Australia, according to the most recent 2016 Personal Safety survey. Physical violence is blessedly rare.

No wonder they place so much emphasis on the tiny numbers of cases which actually make it through to court - complex cases, often involving mental health problems, which fail to be resolved through alternative dispute resolution. Oh yes, there's violence here – often these cases come festooned with allegations of violence or emotional abuse from both sides. Yet there's AIFS research showing more fathers than mothers held concerns about their children's safety, often involving harm inflicted by mum's boyfriend.

"Any reform of the law needs to be more sophisticated and nuanced than to be premised on an assumption that almost all perpetrators are male and almost all victims are female," argues Parkinson yet this is precisely the main thrust of Labor's proposed new family law. And naturally, the media laps it up. "Draft bill aims to improve safety for separating families," applauded The Guardian. "Family law overhaul aimed at stopping abusive partners manipulating the system," ran the SMH headline.

It's another superb victory for the feminists, one more achievement for their mighty domestic violence juggernaut, which already works a treat stacking the family law system to favour women. Currently all it takes is one vague claim that violence could occur, requiring zero supportive evidence, to set in train a sequence of events starting with Dad being removed from the home, denied contact with children and, if he's lucky, ending up paying big money to see his own children in our hellish supervised contact services. And mum gains all the perks, benefits and supports that come with victim status. It's totally irresistible.

Labor's latest move didn't surprise me - they have form. I watched in horror when Labor regained power in 2007 and immediately appointed a fierce critic of shared custody, psychologist Jennifer McIntosh, to study overnight care by dads of infants and toddlers. Her devastating research results came to be used to deny dads overnight care of young children, not only in Australia but across the world before her research was eventually denounced by a team of international experts.

Phillip Ruddock, the Attorney General who implemented the Howard government reforms, pointed out at the time that Labor has always been keen to wind back efforts to promote divorced dads' involvement with children. "They've long been captured by the female lobby determined to retain sole control over their children."

Now's the time to stand up and show ordinary Australians won't stand for this attack on children's right to be cared for by both parents. We need very quickly to get active and make enough noise to convince the politicians currently basking in feminist accolades that we are not letting them slip this one through.

I need all of you to make your voices heard – in every way possible:

• Priority one is visiting local federal parliamentarians and strongly expressing concern.

• Use your media contacts to raise proper discussion of this vital issue.

• Warn organisations involving older people that grandparents could also be pushed out of children's lives.

• Post on social media, encourage men's groups to get active, join public discussions.

• Here are some ideas you can use to make a submission to the Attorney-General's Department inquiry. Either email it to FamilyLawReform@ag.gov.au or upload it here. (Note - ignore the structured questionnaire which doesn't allow input on the important changes.)

• Send the email to your local federal MPs and Senators.

We can't afford to just sit back and let them get away with unwinding the legal framework that did so much to improve the lives of fathers and their children.