Australian Dispute Resolution Association Inc.

This year's AGM will be on Tuesday 10 August at the Celestial Restaurant in Bligh St Sydney. The AGM will commence at 5.30pm with dinner following from around 6.30pm. Come to one or both events. The dinner is being subsidised this year, costing only $25 per head for a Chinese banquet, wines and Chinese tea. Please come along and enjoy the evening with like-minded colleagues. The guest speaker will be Leo McLeay, former Member of Parliament and Speaker of the House of Representatives, who will talk about his dispute resolution experiences.

Commissioner Hilary Astor led a remarkable evening of information and interaction, with lots of people letting her know their views on proposals for changes to family law. This evening produced many comments and questions from the panel - Len Kenny from Relationships Australia, Brett Acland from Unifam and Margaret McCue, a practising lawyer - and from the audience. Thanks to all who contributed to the success of the evening.

The next meeting of the Sydney practice group will be on Monday 7 June at the offices of LEADR, 11-13 Bridge St Sydney, from 6pm. All are welcome to join in simulations and fish bowls practising mediation skills, learning by doing and by observing in a helpful, non-judging environment. If you are interested, contact Naomi Holtring at Naomi@InterMEDIATE.com.au or on 0414 893 119.

We are sorry that we have had to cancel the conference planned for 7 August, due to clashes with other events.

Two of our life members.

Commissioner Hilary Astor of the Law Reform Commisison will present a seminar on recent changes to legislation that all Family Dispute Resolution Practitioners need to know and understand. Hilary will be followed by a panel of senior practitioners talking about practical responses to the legislative changes. Please let us know if you can make it on 27 May at 5.pm by emailing contact@adra.net.au for catering purposes.

Chris Wheeler, Deputy Ombudsman, shared an immense amount of theoretical and practical knowledge with us at the April seminar. Many thanks to you, Chris.

We are sorry our website is not as it should be. We are working on a solution. For any downloads, simply email us at contact@adra.net.au and we can email you the forms.

Born in 1915, Professor John Wear Burton was a psychologist, public servant and PhD who represented Australia at the UN Charter Conference in 1945 and the Paris Peace Conference in 1946. Burton held pro-Asian views at a time when such views were politically unpopular. John Burton founded the Centre for the Analysis of Conflict in London where he lectured in international relations at University College London from 1963 to 1978.

Katherine Johnson represented ADRA at the launch by the Attorney-General, the Hon Robert McClelland MP, of the NADRAC Report resulting from the Inquiry into the removal of barriers and the provision of incentives for the greater use of ADR in the federal civil justice system. The Report is available on the NADRAC website.