Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Whilst I am frequently disappointed by the Morrison Liberal government, today marks a terrifying moment for most Australian women and their families in Australia. The notion that we would even be debating the potential abolition of the Family Court of Australia is not just terrifying; it is unthinkable for the consequences that it will have for our society. I have served in this parliament on a number of committees around family law. Indeed, during the last parliament I was part of the House of Representatives review of the family law system and the experience that people surviving domestic violence have of that family law system. It shouldn't surprise people that most of the cases that are before our family law courts now involve family violence. The statistics are that more than 50 per cent of cases before the Family Court and some 70 per cent of matters before the Federal Circuit Court in Australia involve allegations of family violence.

So the notion that we would abolish courts that seek to specialise in dealing with matters of family violence, that try to ensure the safety of women and children in these situations, is really unthinkable. Indeed, it is an example of this government continuing their do-nothing approach. For years, they have had recommendations—not just from the previous House of Representatives committees that I've deputy-chaired at times; they actually commissioned the Australian Law Reform Commission to undertake a review of the family law courts. Rather than wait for those reviews and reflect on and consider those reviews, the government have jumped to a remedy that can be nothing more—is nothing more—than a sop to One Nation and now a lone-ranger South Australian senator, who was paid handsomely perhaps for his cooperation in getting this bill through the Senate.

But it's deeper than that. It's more than a political sop; it's an indictment of this government, which fails day after day to deliver any genuine reform to ensure the safety of women and children in this nation. It fails, continuously, to address these issues. In this parliament, we've seen ample evidence this week of these shortcomings. We've seen the fact that one woman is murdered every week in this nation at the hands of an intimate partner, that all of our legal matters are clogged up with hearings around family violence. When is this government going to take that seriously? When is it going to properly resource our family courts in order to ensure they can provide safety for women and children? When are we going to see a system that puts children at the centre of our law?

I am sick of standing in this parliament and asking—pleading—for the government to take note of serious inquiries that have been conducted. These have been bipartisan recommendations from this parliament to ensure that children are at the centre of our thinking when it comes to family law matters. You cannot have judges with 600 cases on their dockets and expect them to be doing well. You cannot have family law court writers who are not properly qualified and the best and at the top of their game if you do not resource your courts to take these matters seriously. You cannot have retired judges not being replaced in a timely manner. These are matters that this government has known about for years.

This is a terrifying prospect for Australian women and children. How dare you continue to ignore the pleas of this parliament and Australian women everywhere! (Time expired)

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