George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much indeed, Senator Hume. That is a very important question, and it is important and it is significant that last night's budget contains a number of measures that lay the foundations for long-term, fundamental reform of the family law system. It is of course—as you would know, Mr President—41 years now since the Family Law Act came into operation, and in all that time, almost half a century, although it has had a number of piecemeal reviews, it has never had a comprehensive review. So we announced last night, as part of the budget, that we will ask the Australian Law Reform Commission to undertake a comprehensive review not merely of the Family Law Act but of the entire family law system and we will ask the ALRC to report back to the government by the end of 2018 with its recommendations.

As well, we announced that we are going to make legislative changes to protect the victims of family violence from being cross-examined by the perpetrators. We announced that we will establish a new mechanism—parenting management hearings—which will be a non-adversarial forum in which families can get faster solution to disputes and more easily access other services they need in relation to children; that we will provide an additional $10.7 million for extra family consultants to help courts resolve family law matters more quickly; and that we will provide a further $3.4 million for up to six additional domestic violence units, supplementing the domestic violence units already established under the 2015 Women's Safety Package.