Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in favour of the Family Law Legislation Amendment (Family Violence and Other Measures) Bill 2011 and I commend the member for Forrest for her contribution on this topic. All governments must take very seriously their responsibility to protect children from child abuse and respond to family violence. That was the message from the Safety for Children Alliance which visited parliament yesterday to demonstrate their support for this bill. If things were a little bit friendlier in this chamber I would have been happy to join them at the front of Parliament House, but it is not the sort of parliament where people can go missing.

The Gillard government has also received a number of reports into family law reforms and how the system deals with family violence. These reports include: the Evaluation of the 2006 family law reforms by the Australian Institute of Family Studies; the Family courts violence review by Professor Richard Chisholm AM; and Improving responses to family violence in the family law system: An advice on the intersection of family violence and family law issues by the Family Law Council. It is clear from these reports that we can and must do more to protect and support families at risk of abuse or violence.

My wife has worked in child protection for more than 20 years and she often tells me of the lifelong scars suffered by those who experience this kind of physical and emotional abuse in the family home. She is a frontline child protection worker, so she only deals with families when things have gone bad. It is horrible to see how some families treat children. As you know, Mr Deputy Speaker, last night was State of Origin night. For the benefit of Tasmanians and Victorians, for many of us who call New South Wales or Queensland home, State of Origin is one of those iconic contests that brings out our pride and love for our home state and team. Unfortunately, there is one horrible aspect to State of Origin night. I am told that on State of Origin night the state that loses experiences a spike in incidents of domestic violence. I love State of Origin football but, knowing this, on every Origin night I feel anxious about what will happen once the final whistle is blown. So for me, as a Queenslander, a win is always a slightly bittersweet experience—part of me would like every game to be a draw, but I know that will not happen.

So when it came to last night's game, I know the Attorney-General, who introduced this bill and whom I was sitting beside, hoped for a different outcome to me, but when it comes to eliminating family violence we are very much on the same team. Family violence and child abuse cannot be tolerated under any circumstances. Children must be protected from harm and violence, as well as from witnessing harm and violence against other family members. Personally, I come from a broken home so I well know that all separating families face incredible stress and pressure as child custody and property matters are resolved. Where there are violence or abuse issues, the anxiety and apprehension experienced by families is all the worse. All too often we see in our newspaper headlines the grim reminders of what happens when things go wrong. All too often it is men—occasionally women—who hurt the ones they love. I know that as a government and a society we can never get it perfectly right. We can never have a system that will prevent every single murder, but that does not mean that we should not try to achieve that system.

This bill does not change the essence of our shared parenting laws designed to promote a child's right to a meaningful relationship with both parents, obviously where this is safe for the child. All those barneys that we have in family courts, which keep lawyers employed, over access or residency or whatever we want to call it, should always defer to what is best for the children. That should be the prime consideration.

This bill will enable the family law system to better respond to matters involving child abuse or family violence. It amends the Family Law Act 1975. We need to revisit that briefly. How groundbreaking it was when the Whitlam government brought in the Family Law Act. It amends that act to prioritise the safety of children in parenting. It changes the meaning of 'abuse' and 'family violence' to better capture harmful behaviour, including actions or threats by a person against another family member or their property. It also includes witnessing such actions or threats. It strengthens adviser obligations. It ensures family courts have better access to evidence of abuse and family violence and it makes it easier for child protection authorities to participate in family law proceedings, because all too often that crucial evidence is missing. Unfortunately, that is probably not great news as concerns workloads for my wife and her work colleagues, but as it will make children's lives safer I am sure they will wear the initiative. The court will quickly consider the need to make any orders to ensure there is sufficient information available about the allegation of family violence or child abuse in order to resolve the issues and ensure that appropriate protections are in place.

The bill also makes a number of minor technical amendments to the Family Law Act: it clarifies the Family Court's power to dismiss appeals and to delegate procedural application in appeals to registrars; it clarifies that parentage testing orders and parenting declarations are not parenting orders; and it aligns the Family Court's and the Federal Magistrates Court's provisions on administering oaths or affirmations and on the swearing of affidavits.

This bill sends a strong signal that family violence and child abuse will not be tolerated. Violence and threats of violence are never acceptable. I revisit the concept that this is not a silver bullet that will solve everything. Parliament is not the community. I am merely my community's representative. Our laws help people but obviously it is the community that saves lives and that saves children from experiencing harm and rescues them. It is the community that raises children. We are merely a part of that process. All too often, when there is a family tragedy—the all too horrible circumstance of murder, normally of the woman and the children, and then the suicide of the murdering male—people come on talkback radio and say, 'Who should we blame? What member of the government or what government department should we blame?' But too often it is the community that has turned its back on the household in distress. Like the campaign going at the moment for a child protection agency, too often we have turned our back. Obviously, what would have changed things early on was a knock on the door, as neighbours, friends and good citizens do, to say, 'How are you going. Can we take the kids out and give you a break.' Too often our community streets are lined with cells, not homes—these little silos of lives that do not intersect with the people living right next door or right across the road. We see it in the recent tragic circumstances on the Gold Coast. Also, there is a court case happening at the moment concerning young twins in Sunnybank Hills who perished because no-one knocked on the doors and asked what was going on.

I welcome the bill and I hope it will have a positive impact on family relationships and children's health, development and wellbeing. I commend the bill to the House.

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