Linda Burney (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

For a number of years, in my previous life, I was the Minister for Community Services in New South Wales. I know how important the Family Court system is. It is important because of the reasons that you have heard previous speakers mention; I won't repeat them. It is important for women and children who are escaping family violence and trauma. The Family Court system is an important mechanism through which we can protect individuals, women and children, experiencing family and domestic violence. We know that many matters which pass through the Family Court relate to or involve violence. We also know that the Family Court is a specialist court and that is the beauty of it—a specialist court with specialist judges and specialist staff that understand the issues that the Family Court deal with. It works to resolve some of the most complex and difficult situations for, I would add, highly emotional and often traumatic matters.

The specialist nature of the court means it has an important role to play in protecting individuals experiencing family violence. The Family Court with the staff and resources are best placed to manage these types of cases. But does this government care and take that into consideration? Clearly it does not. Indeed, the Family Court is confronted with major challenges, in particular, lengthy court wait times, delays and backlogs in resolving family law disputes. The experts have consistently said that the abolition of the Family Court is not the answer to the problems the court faces. That is so important.

Everyone that I have spoken to, everyone that's commented on this that has an expertise in the area has said that this is not the way to deal with these issues. Outright concern and opposition to this bill have been expressed by 150 experts and members of the community. That is 150 stakeholders from the Law Council of Australia to women's legal services, community legal centres, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services, child protection advocates and disability services from right across Australia. In fact, it will impact vulnerable children and families.

It has not been helped by the fact that, as the Australian Law Reform Commission report found, Australia's family law system has:

… been deprived of resources to such an extent that it cannot deliver the quality of justice expected of a country like Australia, and to whose family law system other countries once looked and tried to emulate.

Over the past seven years under the Liberal government, Family Court and Federal Circuit Court judges have not been replaced in a timely manner. The government has continued to ignore, time and again, reviews and recommendations, as outlined by the member for Newcastle, including the review of the Australian Law Reform Commission. The government stubbornly remains determined to merge the courts and abolish the Family Court. The need for specialist family courts is more important than ever before. Its creation by the Whitlam government, as outlined by the previous speaker, has led to a greater awareness of family and domestic violence. Necessarily, it has seen an increase in its use and demand for its services.

Former Family Court Chief Justice Diana Bryant said:

I can say that I have spent my whole career—40 years—in family law. I think I have a reasonable knowledge of all those areas gained over that time, but I am still learning and it's not something you can pick up in five minutes. I think having specialised judges is important.

Wendy Kayler-Thomson of the Law Council said, 'It would be a disaster to have trial judges who have not had any family law experience let loose here'. What is clear from those in this space, both legal and domestic violence advocates, is that they are seriously concerned that this measure will end specialist expertise within the Family Court.

I say again: these matters are complex. They need expertise. They need attention, and the way to fix the issues within the Family Court is not by merging it, as this government is about to do.

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