House debates

Tuesday, 16 March 2021

Committees

Australia's Family Law System Joint Select Committee; Report

4:45 pm

Photo of Terry YoungTerry Young (Longman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is easy for me to talk about this because I have had personal experience in it, unfortunately. About 26 years ago, I had the unfortunate experience of going through a divorce. In my case my ex-wife and I were very amicable, she was very easy to work with, and we decided to put the children first, which is the way it should be. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work out that way. I have heard for years and have seen personally as well—as in the electorate now I'm an elected official—personal and heartbreaking stories from people in our community when a marriage or relationship breaks down and it isn't so amicable. I have heard stories about mums fleeing in the middle of the night with their children because of an abusive partner. I have heard stories about dads who have been denied access to their children, simply because of spiteful behaviour.

Divorce can be also an expensive process, particularly when it gets dragged out in the courts. I hate it when there's $500,000 worth of assets and $400,000 ends up going to lawyers. It is just unfair. All of these situations were exacerbated when COVID-19 struck. As the Family Court backlog grew longer, people were forced to accept delayed outcomes which put strain on parents and their children. In the 2016 census, almost 15 per cent of people aged over 15 in my electorate of Longman were either divorced or separated. That is around 18,000 people.

The Family Law Act has been called overly complex and lengthy. It's probably an understatement. The Morrison government is committed to ongoing improvements to the family law system so that families can resolve matters safely, fairly and quickly. The Joint Select Committee on Australia's Family Law System, as I said—I was a late call-in on that one, due to someone else leaving the committee—has tabled its recommendations for family law reform, which will be considered by government.

These reforms focus on four major areas of concern: extensive delays, excessive legal costs, the difficulty of enforcing court orders, and timely and fair resolution of family violence allegations. It makes 29 recommendations broadly regarding: legislative reform, legal costs, court funding, legal assistance funding, accreditation and training, Family Law Council, family violence.

One of the recommendations put forward by the committee was around the concept of shared equal parental responsibility. Reforms made to the Family Law Act in 2006 by the Howard government aimed to ensure children could have meaningful relationships with both parents after a marriage breakdown. This is extremely important, in my view. In reforms made to the Family Law Act, the idea was that both parents would share equal parental responsibility. In practice, though, this is not always applied and for good reason. There are instances when it's not safe to do so. If one parent is violent or addicted to illegal substances, for example, then the child is at risk. The family law courts must ensure each individual situation that comes before it is determined with the best interests of the child at the forefront. The courts must consider whether a child spending equal or substantial time with both of their parents is in that child's best interests and is also practicable to do so.

The Australian Law Reform Commission, in its review of the family law system, recommended clarifying the idea of shared equal parental responsibility to reduce any confusion that might arise from its usage. It is an important point and it is imperative that we get this right. The commission stated that the concept of equal parental responsibility is a good starting point for negotiations between parents and should be retained. Many decisions that occur after the starting point have their foundations in that concept.

Further family law reforms in 2012 included attaching greater weight to child protection than to parental involvement when determining what is in the best interests of the child. In practice, it was found that, in cases where there were allegations of family violence or child abuse, shared parental responsibility was decided in only 33.8 per cent of cases. Shared care time involving between 35 per cent and 65 per cent of time was decided in only 10.6 per cent of cases.

Issues related to family violence were raised in many submissions to the committee's inquiry. The committee made specific recommendations aimed to improve the experience of victims of family violence in the family law system. These include reviewing state and territory family violence order frameworks, and reviewing definitions of family violence to ensure a consistent approach; developing an appropriate technology platform for information sharing; and reviewing family violence and family law services to ensure adequate support services for all victims of family violence in considering initiatives to encourage a more gender balanced workforce.

While the Joint Select Committee on Australia's Family Law System considers its response to the recommendations of the commission, the government has put in place a range of measures to improve safety within the family law system. We have supported the launch of a new family safety risk screening and triage process being piloted in the family law courts with a $13.5 million federal government investment. The pilot, known as the Lighthouse Project, was launched in December last year. All new parenting matters are systematically screened for family safety risks when filed in court. Matters are then triaged according to the level of identified risk.

The Federal Circuit Court is also operating specialist family violence lists to resolve high-risk matters faster and more safely. The government has also provided funding of $10.4 million to pilot the rollout of child protection and policing officials in family law courts across Australia. These officials are improving the information available to the family law courts through the sharing of relevant information from different states and territories. The government is also working on a national information sharing framework to further enhance information sharing between these organisations. And we have funded the establishment of a family advocacy support service.

The reforms to our family law system are incredibly important. We need to ensure that we get it right. Marriage breakdowns are emotional and stressful situations, particularly for the children. We need to ensure that the children are properly protected but, at the same time, we need to ensure that mums and dads have access to their children where appropriate and safe and practical. We also need to reduce the financial burden on families going through the family law process.

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