Legal assistance services must be recognised as "core and specialist frontline services", with a reportable commitment to ensure access to legal help, the submission said. Family violence allegations were present in 86 per cent of parenting matters before the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, and 77 per cent of cases involved claims of abuse against children, it said. "The commencement of family law proceedings can be a dangerous time in which violence escalates," the submission stated. Adrianne Walters, the legal body's executive director, said perpetrators were exploiting every tool available to them, and technology was evolving faster than legal systems could respond. "We have an opportunity to build safeguards into our legal systems now, rather than waiting for the harm to compound," she said.