Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is my great pleasure to rise and reflect on the budget commitments that our government is making in this portfolio, the Attorney-General's portfolio. I want to start my contribution by reflecting on the member for Moreton's contribution. I am disappointed that he sought to misrepresent my work as the Chair of the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs in the inquiry we are running into family violence law reform. I say that first of all because there is a great spirit of bipartisanship in this committee. We have worked very well together and we continue to work well together, with the first public hearing yesterday in relation to the very significant challenges for those who are affected by family violence—those who do not feel properly protected, who are victims of family violence, and who get caught up in the family law system.

I want, for the record, to correct the member for Moreton's misrepresentation in relation to parenting management hearings. I remind him that anyone in the family court system is there because they are in dispute. The member for Moreton clearly does not understand that. The fact of the matter is that some disputes are capable of being resolved through mediation and at an early stage of proceedings. When that can happen, it is obviously very positive for families. But some disputes are heavily contested and may well proceed to an interim hearing and to a final hearing. I am very pleased that the Attorney-General has announced funding of $12.7 million to establish parenting management hearings in the Family Court and the Federal Circuit Court. These hearings are designed to be fast, informal and less adversarial for resolving non-complex family law disputes between self-represented parties. In New South Wales, these hearings will initially take place at the Parramatta registry and they will be by way of a trial. Moving many non-complex matters into this system, we believe, should relieve wait times. Frankly, it is a very positive innovation introduced by the Attorney-General.

I would hope that in running this inquiry we, as a committee, will consider a number of other innovative means through which families can deal with their disputes, particularly families affected by family violence. I commend the Attorney-General for this investment, and we look forward to seeing how this particular trial rolls out. The aspirations, of course, are that we make sure—

Mr Perrett interjecting—

And I really do take issue with the member for Moreton's interjection. We obviously ensure that this parenting management system, which is a trial, is there to help families, something perhaps the member for Moreton has not shown a great deal of interest in, but it is something that we as a government are very interested in, and I take issue with the misrepresentation he has made.

Mr Perrett interjecting—

If the member for Moreton were interested in this issue he would not seek to misrepresent me and nor would he seek to interfere with the bipartisanship, and the strong bipartisanship, of the committee and the work we are doing to help families affected by family violence.

I also want to put to the minister the very significant work the Turnbull government is doing in relation to counter-terrorism measures. In just over two years we have invested an additional $1.5 billion to support and strengthen Australia's counter-terrorism efforts. We know that this has resonated very strongly and positively with the Australian community. In fact, I would like to ask the minister about the eight tranches of counter-terrorism and national security legislation that have been passed since 2014, because we recognise that the agency's ability to collect intelligence, to strengthen the control order regime, to reduce the arrest threshold for terrorism offences and to introduce a post-sentence preventative detention regime are all very important measures. I commend the government's work and I also commend the work of the Attorney-General in relation to convening a particular briefing that we are going to have with the director-general of ASIO in relation to some of the ongoing concerns with terrorism in our community. (Time expired)

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