Zoe Daniel (Goldstein, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move amendments (1) and (2) as circulated in my name together:

(1) Schedule 1, item 6, page 5 (after line 22), after paragraph 60CC(2)(d), insert:

(da) any family violence involving the child or a member of the child's family;

(db) any family violence order that applies, or has applied, to the child or a member of the child's family;

(2) Schedule 5, page 41 (before line 6), before item 1, insert:

1A At the end of subsection 4AB(2)

Add:

; or (k) repeated and unreasonable commencement of, or participation in, or lack of participation in, legal processes under this Act in a manner that intentionally and maliciously causes emotional or financial harm to the family member.

My first amendment goes to the heart of safety. I believe that including a history of family violence in the Family Law Act will better enable consideration of the impact of violence upon children in determining parenting arrangements after separation. An extra provision should be inserted which states:

(da) any family violence involving the child or a member of the child's family;

(db) any family violence order that applies, or has applied, to the child or a member of the child's family;

Talking about safety is talking about the future, talking about violence is talking about the past and talking about the past is critical to women and children being able to tell their stories when they've experienced domestic or family violence, or abuse. There is a great deal of evidence that says women are often advised by family dispute resolution practitioners and lawyers not to raise their concerns about past family violence in relation to future parenting arrangements for fear it will be held against them. At present, this bill reinforces this problem. It suggests that we should ignore information and evidence about past violence and pretend that it's not relevant to the future safety of the victims-survivors at handovers or the children at the heart of these arrangements.

Bringing up past violence should not be taboo. It's important information that must weigh into decisions about the safety of future parenting arrangements. This amendment will allow judges, lawyers and parents to understand exactly, and share information about, what kinds of arrangements are safe. If this bill is enacted in its current form, there will be nothing in this section to suggest that a history of family violence is in any way pertinent to decisions about where a child should live or who they should spend time with. This provision will also allow full consideration of the impact of family violence upon children and those who care for them.

It is only right that family law should be future-facing. We must consider whether children can or might be able to spend time safely with each parent, but that doesn't mean we should ignore information about the past. Information about family violence is crucial in understanding the recovery needs of those who have experienced violence and how families can function after separation. We must introduce this amendment to ensure that we can truly secure the safety of victims-survivors and children.

My second amendment addresses the problem of legal systems abuse. This amendment will strengthen our response to the endemic problem of legal systems abuse. This bill already introduces a revolutionary new power for judges to be able to stop people from bringing court proceedings where it would cause harm to the other family members involved. This is an enormous step forward in our ability to address the problem of legal systems abuse. However, we need to go further. We need to clearly recognise systems abuse as a form of family violence. This amendment does it clearly and simply by including systems abuse as another example of behaviour that may constitute family violence.

Research studies from Australia, New Zealand and the UK all demonstrate how family law proceedings are deliberately used by perpetrators to assert continued control and intimidation over their children, their child's other parent and anyone else who cares for that child. As the Australian Law Reform Commission told us, systems abuse can look like refusing to sign legal documents, failing to attend meetings or court dates, prolonging litigation to waste the resources of the other party or lodging multiple sets of proceedings. The National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children requires us to address systems abuse as part of our response to the domestic and family violence that plagues our family law system.

My amendment is evidence backed. Recently, student research from Monash University's Faculty of Law into family law systems abuse concluded that we must rethink legal systems abuse as a form of family violence. That study recommended the amendment we have proposed here. This amendment is a straightforward and overdue solution. It will reinforce the existing strengths of this bill and ensure that they're truly effective in combating domestic and family violence. I strongly urge the government to accept both of my amendments. I accept the Attorney-General's assurance that they will be given due consideration in the committee process in the other place.

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