Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party, Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

I thank members for their contribution to this important debate. The Federal Circuit Court and Family Court of Australia Bill 2019 and the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2019 bring together the Federal Circuit Court of Australia and the Family Court of Australia. The main bill brings together the Family Court of Australia and the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, which will be known as the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia. The legislation provides a consistent federal family law court structure designed to make it as easy as possible for Australian families to get on with their lives. The consequential amendments bill will facilitate the transition for court users from the Family Court of Australia and the Federal Circuit Court of Australia to the new FCFC on the commencement of the provisions.

The FCFC will have common, streamlined processes and procedures that operate consistently and will provide the significant benefit of creating a single point of entry into the federal family law courts. This will make an enormous difference to Australian families. It will be a simpler, more efficient, more effective and more accessible court for Australian families to resolve their matters with as little complexity as possible.

It is unfortunate that so much of the debate on these bills focused on mischaracterisation of the bills and the current system. The bills do not abolish the Family Court. Judges appointed to the Family Court and the Federal Circuit Court will continue their appointments. It is important to put in context the work of the two courts. The reality of the existing family law system is that the Federal Circuit Court already deals with close to 90 per cent of family law matters. When it comes specifically to final orders made, the FCC resolved almost 16,000 matters just in the last financial year and the Family Court resolved around 2,400 matters over the same period.

There are approximately 40 judges at the Federal Circuit Court who hear only family law matters. The average FCC judge hearing family law matters has, on average, 25 years of experience in family law. These judges have experience with matters involving families with complex needs. The unfortunate reality is that they have experience dealing with matters involving family violence.

There have also been suggestions that the Family Court provides some greater level of service to families than the Federal Circuit Court. However, the CEO of the Federal Circuit Court and the Family Court told the recent Senate committee inquiry:

… there have been some suggestions of a difference in wraparound services provided to each of the Family Court and the FCC. What is meant by this term is somewhat unclear. However, for the avoidance of doubt, the court's internal family law services are shared between the courts. This includes registrar resources, family counsellors and registry staff.

Members opposite have also suggested that there has been no engagement with stakeholders and the sector on this reform. This is a strange criticism for a bill that was first introduced in August 2018 and which has been subject to two separate Senate committee inquiries—one which lasted 18 months and the other which lasted almost a year. The proposed reforms have been developed in close consultation with the federal courts, including the heads of jurisdiction. Exposure drafts of the 2018 bills were provided to the Law Council of Australia and the Australian Bar Association for review and comment. Prior to reintroducing the bills the Attorney-General addressed the judges of both courts and held a roundtable with key stakeholders. The original bills had been developed and informed by a number of substantial inquiries over the last decade including the 2008 Semple review, a 2014 KPMG review, a 2015 EY report, the 2017 House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs inquiry and, most recently, a 2018 PwC report.

That the government has considered the views of stakeholders is evidenced by the amendments made to the current versions of the bills. To address some of the concerns identified by stakeholders, the government made several changes to the package as it was before the last parliament. The government will no longer create a family law appeals division in the Federal Court. The bill instead preserves the existing Family Court's appellate jurisdiction within the FCFC Division 1. The government has also agreed to set a floor of judges by regulation, to be set at 25 judges, which was the number previously recommended in the Semple report.

The bill marks real change for Australian families seeking to navigate a family law system at a stressful time in their lives. The structural failings of the current split family law system are widely agreed, and continuing to do nothing to fix the problem is not an option. Reform of any longstanding structural problem is challenging, but the proposed reforms are the least radical path to ending, for thousands of Australian families, the unnecessary confusion, costs and delays that have arisen by virtue of the current split system. I commend this bill to the House.

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