Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to bring the attention of the House to the appalling situation facing Parramatta families seeking to access the court system to settle family law matters. The situation has now reached crisis point, with waiting times stretching to 18 months for an interim hearing and up to three years for a resolution. Imagine knowing that, if you do not have access to your two-year-old, it could take you three years before that issue was resolved.

A recent Monday was a fairly typical day, and only four of the 12 courtrooms in Parramatta were in use. It was not because there was not enough work to fill a few more but because we did not have enough judges. In fact, we are three judges down at Parramatta. One judge is dealing with 600 Parramatta cases, and the work is only increasing. These unreasonable delays greatly increase family tensions and resentments due to the prolonged uncertainty about child custody and property settlement matters. Delays like this have a lifelong impact on children and their parents.

The root cause of the problems at Parramatta is the nonappointment of Federal Circuit Court judges to replace those who have retired or been relocated. Recently, the replacement of one judge took 560 days. A retirement date has been set for a judge who is currently on long-term leave. At the very least, I request the Attorney-General replace that judge without delay on his formal retirement.

Concern about this issue is widespread within my local community and the legal fraternity, and I call on the government to respond to this matter as a matter of urgency.