Philip Ruddock (Berowra, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Lindsay for her question. I would like to say to the students from the Corpus Christi school that they have an outstanding member in the member for Lindsay, one who, I might say, has taken a great deal of interest in family law and related issues. On that basis, I can certainly say to her constituents and prospective constituents that she made a significant contribution to one of the hallmark reports of this parliament, Every picture tells a story, which was the genesis of the family law reforms about which I have been asked. I was able to launch for her in her electorate the proposed family relationship centre last year and of course I commend her involvement in the task force that has been assisting in the development of these initiatives.

Next month will herald a new era for Australian families in dealing with the family law system. These are the most significant changes to the law in three decades and they will take place on 1 July. The first 15 family relationship centres—including a centre at Penrith, in the member’s electorate—will open their doors on 3 July, as will the new website and the new family relationships advice line. Combined with significant legislative changes and the biggest investment—some $400 million over four years—in the family law system, we will see a cooperative approach encouraged to deal with the difficult issues surrounding family breakdown. Families will be able to access support at all levels of their relationship. Where separation is inevitable, it will ensure that parents are focused on arrangements that are in the best interests of their children.

These reforms have been widely anticipated by most and certainly welcomed, but I am sorry that there are some who have been trying to talk down these initiatives and misrepresent them. For instance, the member for Gellibrand has resisted supporting these changes, despite the fact that a number of colleagues on the parliamentary committee agreed with them. She has had hardly a positive thing to say about them. She said that family relationship centres would be ‘sausage factories’. She made out that they would expose women and children to violence, when it is clear that we have put in place arrangements to ensure that should not happen.

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