House debates

Monday, 26 October 2020

Bills

Family Law Amendment (A Step Towards a Safer Family Law System) Bill 2020

11:13 am

Photo of Sharon ClaydonSharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased to rise in support of this private member's bill, the Family Law Amendment (A Step Towards a Safer Family Law System) Bill 2020. I'd like to thank my colleague, the member for Moreton, who joins us in the chamber today, for tabling this bill, and for his longstanding advocacy in this area.

This bill would remove the presumption of equal shared parental responsibility from the Family Law Act, ensuring that children's interests are given priority and placed at the very centre of family law custody decisions. When I asked the Law Council of Australia, during the recent public hearing of an inquiry into family, domestic and sexual violence, for their priority reforms, they didn't hesitate to name this as their No.1 priority for law reform. The view was backed in by a number of witnesses, including frontline organisations who are working every day to combat the scourge of family and domestic violence. One woman is killed in Australia by a current or former partner every single week. Already in 2020, 40 women have been killed by violence. We know that the postseparation period is one of the most dangerous, not just for women facing domestic violence but also for their children.

In 2006 the presumption of equal shared parental responsibility in parenting orders was first introduced in amendments to the Family Law Act. Regretfully, it has been causing great confusion and damaging custody decisions ever since. In 2017 I was Deputy Chair of the House Social Policy and Legal Affairs Committee inquiry into a better family law system to support and protect those affected by family violence. Evidence came before us then, in 2017, that there were great inadequacies in how the current presumption of equal shared parenting is operating. Even though there are exemptions available for families experiencing violence, these exemptions are very rarely exercised. Indeed, there was substantial evidence to suggest that the presumption was, in fact, contributing to inappropriate, and sometimes damaging and outright dangerous, postseparation parental arrangements. When the Australian Institute of Family Studies looked into this they found that, even where both family violence and child abuse had been alleged in a case before the court, over 75 per cent of those cases led to orders for equal shared parental responsibility, either by a judge or by consenting parties. This cannot possibly be in the best interests of the child, which is why the committee then, three years ago, recommended the removal of this legal presumption.

There are too many cases where parenting orders made under the presumption of equal shared parental responsibility place children in the custody of abusing parents. When you consider that half of the matters before the Family Court of Australia and 70 per cent of those before the Federal Circuit Court of Australia involve allegations of family violence, this is no small matter. But it is not just about formal court decisions; the principle also sets a precedent for all decisions that are negotiated between the parties outside of the courts.

Importantly, this bill has widespread support of community and legal groups who have direct experience in the operations of the family law system. Amongst the most prominent has been the Safety First in Family Law campaign that Women's Legal Services Australia launched with Rosie Batty. This campaign has secured the support of more than 90 organisations. So many of the things we know we must do in order to drive down the scourge of domestic violence are going to be resource intensive and expensive—we need adequate funding for frontline services so that no women seeking advice and support are unable to find it and we need to properly fund emergency and longer term housing options so no women and children fleeing violence are left with nowhere to go—but changing the presumption of equal shared parental responsibility costs nothing as a budget line item and yet has the potential to prevent so much damage.

If we're going to drive down the rates of domestic violence, we must place the safety of children at the very centre of our family law system. This important change has widespread support. Despite this, it will go nowhere in this place without bipartisan support. That's why I sincerely thank the member for Bass for her public support and her contribution to this debate today. I urge all government members and those colleagues in this place of good heart and good conscience to support this bill. You know it's the right thing to do. Let's not wait for more women and children to die before we act. We can and must do better than that.

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