John Madigan (Victoria, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I, and also on the behalf of Senators Day, Muir, Wang, Lazarus, Leyonhjelm and Lambie, move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes the 2003 committee report by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family and Community Affairs, Every picture tells a story: Report on the inquiry into child custody arrangements in the event of family separation, which recommended that a new non-adversarial system be created; and

(b) calls on the Government to:

(i) recognise that thousands of Australian children continue to be harmed by a family law system that is not fit-for-purpose,

(ii) recognise That the Family Law Act 1975 should be revised, simplified, shortened and based on core principles of the paramountcy of the long-term welfare of children, gender equality, and equal parental care and responsibility, when neither parent has been proven unfit, and

(iii) undertake a root-and-branch review of the family law system with a view to creating a new mechanism that is not adversarial in nature and deals with family separation in a way that has a tangible and primary focus on the welfare of the child, including an urgency for decisions, education and fairness.

Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The family law system in Australia has been developed over decades and generally operates effectively in what is an extremely difficult area of law. While all legal frameworks should be subject to ongoing review and reform where the need for improvements are identified, there is no basis for a root-and-branch review of the entire family law system in Australia as proposed by this motion.

The less adversarial trial—LAT—approach was introduced into the Family Court in 2006 by the Family Law Amendment (Shared Parental Responsibility) Act 2006. The enactment of that legislation followed the 2003 House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family and Community Affairs report and a trial conducted in the Family Court at about the same time, known as the Children's Cases Program. This LAT approach is mandated in division 12A of part VII in the Family Law Act. It applies to all child-related proceedings and in financial matters by consent. The LAT has been a highly significant departure from the traditional adversarial trial. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.