Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) | Hansard source

I recall the first meeting I had with the former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in 2016 after I was newly elected. I sat there at his Bligh Street office. He'd just poured a fresh cup of green tea, and I hit him with my No. 1 priority of family law reform. He said, 'That's a tough one, Pauline.' I'll never forget those words. I felt as though he was mentally building a brick wall to the very suggestion of fixing our broken family law system. And here I am today, with my sledgehammer, still trying to break down that same brick wall that continues to prevent a review into the family law system. By the close of business today another three funerals will have been announced by the families of men who've taken their own lives, and the unjustified murder of another woman will have occurred by Friday because of our life-destroying family law system.

On Friday, I outlined a number of suggestions I believe are required to modernise our country's outdated child support system. My press release stated I was calling for a joint parliamentary inquiry into family law. I wrote that it's time to overhaul the 1988 child support system with a three-point plan to repair the payment calculation so that non-custodial parents are able to continue to meet the needs of their children without creating a lifestyle for their former partners. You see, the current system penalises non-custodial parents who work overtime and take on a second job. They are forced to pay the custodial parent based on before tax earnings. It's my belief that child support calculations should be based on a standard 38-hour week. Therefore, it would quarantine overtime payments and the earnings from a second job. By doing this, it would bring child support payments in line with Australia's superannuation ordinary time earnings. In other words, employers must pay 9.5 per cent superannuation on guaranteed hours. Overtime is not guaranteed hours; therefore, superannuation does not have to be paid as per the National Employment Standards. Why should a person who decides to work their guts out on their days off lose an enormous chunk of that money? It not only deters a person from putting in the hard yards, but it prevents the non-custodial parent from getting back on their feet and ahead in life.

I also believe a new child support formula should be broken into three categories where non-custodial parents are obliged to meet the needs of a child in prep, primary and high school. I hear daily complaints from non-custodial parents, predominantly men, who tell me that they are being fleeced by their former partners, who often deny access to the child yet reap large proportions of their former partner's before tax earnings that never fully benefit the child. I've sent a detailed term of reference to inquire into family law to Attorney-General Christian Porter and have called on the government to hold a 12-month inquiry that I would chair. If the government agrees to this inquiry, it's important we take it to areas right across the country and not just to the major cities. All Australians deserve a voice on our broken family law system, so I'm prepared to go to far-reaching parts of the country to hear from them.

I must thank The CourierMail for continuing to give me a voice on this matter, because most other media are silent on the toxic family law legislation this place has created. I put these same comments on my Facebook page and received more than 1,700 comments. Let me read you a few. Lara Middleton said:

CSa definately needs an overhaul, sooner rather than later. Every year it goes up more, the adverage wages doesnt go up to cover it either. Shouldnt go on earning before tax.

I wish there was more we could do to help support you Pauline!

I wish there was something we all could do instead of sitting here hoping you can see this through.

Samad Khan said:

I disagree with alot of things you say but with this matter I'm with you 100%. If you get this sorted you'll have my vote next time.

Thanks Samad! Jed Richardson said:

False accusations of dv to gain full custody of children, thus denying other parent and children acces to each other and alianater gets alianated parents money as well!

When accusations are found to be untrue no charges laid by police as they state it can deter real victims of dv from coming forward

What a—

stuffed up—

system !

Mark Maskell said:

About time somebody stands up for the rights of the ordinary person maybe she might make an even playing field

Jason Rutkowski said:

The entire system needs a Royal Commission investigation, nothing less!

Eva Griebe said:

Please keep up the fight on this Pauline. It's too late for my husband who paid an exorbitant amount of child support to a woman who didn't work, and for a child he couldn't see … But please fix it for others.

Anthony Latella said:

Thankyou Pauline!!! This is an issue I've wanted to see tackled for the last 13 years..

I had put in so many hours of overtime over years to try and get myself somewhere comfortable but after having to pay soo much more after giving up weekends with my child due to working overtime I simply said enough is enough and no longer try to make any extra money to have a just a little extra. Child support from a previous relationship pretty much stops me from working overtime and trying to provide extra for my new family. I don't feel it's fair to have to give up my weekends working and spending time with my kids only to get no where ahead. System is completely broken and most payee parents are continually screwed by CSA.

Margie Atkinson said:

Great work Pauline Hanson, push this to the hilt. Your ideas are 100% correct & must be implemented.

And Turtle Hayton said:

Thank you Pauline! I don't mind paying child support but the more I earn the more I pay and does not makenit worthwhile advancing in my career. More earnings = more tax and more child support so I'm worse off.

I could read these comments to you for hours. I sat up over the weekend and went through so many of them. The stories are heartbreaking, and you can feel the deep seated pain throughout each person's individual story. If there is one thing the Prime Minister should do tonight, it's jump on my Facebook page and just spend 30 minutes going through some of the comments. In fact, I'd recommend you all take the time to ask your own Facebook followers what they think about a royal commission or an inquiry into family law. I can guarantee you that the response from people will be strongly supportive. This goes beyond party politics, colour or creed, and it is time we fixed it.

I can speak openly about my own case to do with child support. My husband from my first marriage paid me absolutely nothing. I supported those two children—one as young as six months old and the other four years old—and I struggled to end make ends, but I got there at the end of the day. As for my second husband, all I wanted from him was support of $20 for each child, and he didn't even want to pay that. The courts wanted me to go after it, the solicitors wanted me to go to $50, and I said, 'No, I'm quite happy with $20 each,' and he wouldn't even pay that. When he want to drag me through the courts, I said, 'You know what? Keep your money. I'm not interested. I will rear my children and pay for their education myself,' which I did.

There are parents out there who truly want to see their children, want to have a connection with their children, who would gladly pay child support if it is fair and just. That's all these people are asking for: what is fair and just. Don't destroy a person's life by making them pay exorbitant amounts of child support. It is fair to consider a 38-hour week and for them to pay their fair share of child support to support their children, but don't deny them access to see their children.

As I said earlier today, get over the hurt, the hate and the pain, and move on with your lives. At the end of the day, it's all about the children. And, if that means that you pay your way in making sure the kids are well looked after, fed and clothed and get a good education, that is what is important. But a lot of these people will not work and will give up their jobs to go on welfare, because the system is charging them too much and they can see themselves never getting ahead in life. Make child support fair and just, and a lot more people will face their responsibilities and go and get a job, and get on with their lives.

Question agreed to.