Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that Women's Legal Services Australia and 90 other organisations concerned with family violence wrote to all political leaders in May 2016 calling on them to put safety first in family law;

(2) recognises that:

(a) unrepresented litigants have been an increasing feature of the Family Court of Australia and Federal Circuit Court of Australia for many years;

(b) due to the cuts made to Legal Aid funding by the Government, the number of unrepresented litigants continues to increase;

(c) unrepresented litigants are entitled to cross-examine the other party to test their evidence in a trial; and

(d) where a victim of family violence is subjected to direct cross-examination by their abuser, the:

  (i) victim can be severely traumatised;

  (ii) quality of the evidence given to the court can be compromised;

  (iii) perpetrator can use the court process to further abuse the victim; and

  (iv) victim may discontinue the proceedings because they are unable to endure the cross-examination;

(3) further notes that the Opposition took to the election a commitment to protect victims and survivors from being personally cross-examined by alleged perpetrators; and

(4) calls on the Government to immediately act to protect victims of family violence by introducing amendments to the Family Law Act 1975 to ensure that victims of family violence are not directly cross-examined by their abusers during court proceedings.

I am pleased to move the motion circulated in my name calling on the Turnbull-Joyce government to act to protect victims of family violence from being directly cross-examined by their abusers during court proceedings. Imagine for a moment, Deputy Speaker, that you are the victim of an assault. Imagine that your fear of the person who assaulted you is so powerful that you feel physically ill when you are in their presence. Now imagine that, in order to protect your children, you will have to face direct questioning from the person you are most terrified of, sometimes about the most intimate aspects of your life. This is the situation for hundreds of parents every year going through our already-stressed family courts. Who could blame these parents if the prospect of facing their abuser is so terrifying that they walk away from getting the justice that they and their children deserve?

Women's Legal Services Australia is the peak body of a network of community legal centres specialising in women's legal issues. There are 15 members, stretching the length and breadth of Australia. Women's Legal Service Queensland is located in Moreton, and I know the great work they do every day for women all over Queensland, and I acknowledge Angela Lynch and her colleagues from this service. Women's Legal Services Australia are champions for many women's legal issues. For some time they have been calling for changes to the Family Law Act to protect women from being directly cross-examined by their abuser.

During the election campaign Women's Legal Services Australia, along with more than 90 other organisations working with victims of family violence, sent an open letter to all political leaders calling on them to put safety first in family law. One of the five steps in the Safety First in Family Law plan is to:

Reduce trauma and support those who are most at risk of future violence and death.

I am proud that Labor took to the election a commitment to amend the Family Law Act to protect victims of family violence from being directly cross-examined by their abuser.

The work of family violence organisations like Women's Legal Services tells us that victims of family violence often feel that their former partners use the court system to continue the abuse. Victims can be retraumatised from the experience of direct cross-examination by their abuser. The evidence given to the court through direct cross-examination can be compromised, affecting the ability of the court to make safe and effective orders. Some victims feel pressured into agreements that may be unsafe or unworkable in order to avoid being directly cross-examined. This is a very serious issue.

In a submission to the Law Council of Australia in October 2015, Women's Legal Services Australia detailed feedback from a survey they had conducted. The survey asked women what their experience was of being personally cross-examined by their abusers in the family law courts. Three women were so traumatised they were suicidal. Three women were physically ill before their court appearance and during the process of cross-examination. One woman was violently ill on the side of the road on the way to court, causing her to be late and the court date vacated. One woman had to be medicated just to physically make it into the courtroom and was later admitted to a psychiatric hospital. The words used by the respondents to the survey to describe their experience included 'fear', 'anxiety', 'debilitating', 'worst nightmare', 'humiliating', 'degrading', 'horrific', 'horrendous', 'intimidating', 'belittled' and 'unjust'.

Unlike the many problems the Turnbull-Joyce government face, this is a problem with a solution. Labor took to the election a policy to amend the Family Law Act to provide protection for victims of family violence facing direct cross-examination by their abuser, including providing legal representation for both unrepresented parties where that is necessary. This election commitment was costed at $43.2 million over four years. That is just over one-quarter of the cost of the $160 million needed for the government's divisive marriage equality plebiscite. The Turnbull-Joyce government should act immediately. Victims of family violence and their children are suffering every single day that this government does not act, unfortunately.

I do not pretend for a second that implementing this policy would solve all of the complicated problems around family violence. There is still much more to do. It is always messy when love turns to hate—or even worse. Family violence is a difficult policy area, not only because it is emotive but also because it crosses over jurisdictions. The resultant disjointed system sometimes leaves victims fallen between the cracks. Under the guidance of Mark Dreyfus, the shadow Attorney-General, Labor took to the election a range of policies that would assist in addressing this scourge of family violence. I would welcome the Turnbull-Joyce government implementing these Labor policies. I am sure that victims of family violence do not care who fixes the system; they just want to make sure that it is fixed. I commend again the great work of Women's Legal Service Queensland in my electorate and of others throughout Australia for the great work they do in saving people's lives.

Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there a seconder?

Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Moreton for bringing this matter to the parliament. The first point is that we are talking about it. If we are going to change attitudes, we need to be talking about issues of family violence. Tim Watts, the member for Gellibrand, the very charming member for Canning and I intend on forming 'parliamentarians against family violence in the 45th Parliament'—three young men out there saying that this needs to stop, that the family unit needs to be a place of refuge and that people should be able to feel safe in their family home. We championed it in the last parliament and we will continue to champion it. There are some things that cross many borders and many political lines, and dealing with family violence should be one of those.

This is a very interesting and quite detailed pathway forward, and I think it is something worthy of due consideration. I am a strong believer, of course, in putting the fence around the top of the hill, which is addressing attitudinal change, particularly in our young men. One of the things that I have done in my own electorate is distribute 15,000 '100 ways to praise a child posters. What I am trying to do is instil in our young girls, particularly, a sense of self-worth. This is a challenge I am going to put out to Australian fathers: one of the key roles of a father of a daughter is to instil a sense of self-worth into their daughter. That is one of the best ways they can protect them from a violent relationship, because a sense of self-worth means that when that bloke comes along who does not value them and treats them poorly, they will say, 'To hell with that; I can do better than you, sunshine,' and move on. I think that attitudinal change, where we change our young women to know what they should look for in relationships and we change our young men to value women and see them as someone's sister or someone's daughter and to value them for their worth, contribution and intellect, is a societal change we need to instil. That is the first step to addressing family violence in Australia.

But, unfortunately, we also need the ambulance at the top of the hill. We also need to have good law enforcement. That is why we fought very hard to implement Australia-wide intervention orders. That was something that was very relevant in my electorate. A woman could feel protected under the Victorian policing law, but when she crossed over the Murray river, only 300 metres, she was not protected under law. I am very pleased that COAG is working to bring that to fruition. Better legal protection does need to be implemented. I am disappointed that, in the 2014 budget, our government tried to pull back on that legal protection and support for victims of family violence.

I am quite pleased that the electorate of Mallee, and Mildura in particular, is one of the 12 trial sites across Australia that is using a case-managed service to deal with family violence, so that if a woman presents in a hospital as a clear victim of family violence they can come to her. They are case managed and then we can put police and support services around that, and I think this is a step forward. I am very interested to hear how this trial goes. A trial, like anything, is never going to perfect, but it is going to have some lessons.

I think there also needs to be a look at particularly what the member for Moreton has brought to the discussion today. It is inappropriate for a woman who is going through a court case to be cross-examined by her ex-partner. That is completely inappropriate, and it does not provide a supportive network, because, whether we like it or not, not only have we removed that offender from the chance to physically harm, that offender usually has quite an emotionally hold over that victim and we need to make sure that we are supporting that victim as we move forward. Of course there needs to be integrity in the legal system. Of course we need to make sure that the judge and those making the discussions feel that they can make an informed decision, but I think there is a lot of merit in what the member for Moreton has brought here today.

The fact that our parliament is talking about this is fantastic. The Parliamentarians against Family Violence Friendship Group started in the 44th Parliament and I intend to champion it through the 45th Parliament. I think we, as Australians, needs to remember that the home is a refuge, that women and families should feel safe and that we will continue to fight for this on both sides of the parliament. I am very pleased to speak on this bill.

Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Women who, having left an abusive relationship, are facing family law proceedings in court deserve to be treated with respect and afforded justice. There are processes in the family law courts that are at risk of being misused by abusive ex-partners. That needs to change.

Labor has a policy to chance court procedures to make them fairer in cases where violence is a feature. The Turnbull government should get on board with our policy. Going through family law proceedings is hard enough for anyone. Violent is a feature in 41 per cent of cases in the family law courts, according to Family Court of Australia Chief Justice Diana Bryant. When violence is a feature, litigants are also alleged victims. The impact of those circumstances on the people affected should be considered to make sure that victims are able to get a fair go.

When an abusive former partner is unrepresented he can personally cross-examine a woman in court instead of having a lawyer do it. Lawyers are professional advocates with legal and ethical responsibilities to the court and the parties. Unrepresented former spouses are not, or at least not to the same extent. They do not have the same obligations as professional lawyers. Being questioned by someone who used to try to control you or who was physically violent towards you can be confronting. It can change your demeanour, and it can intimidate you out of saying things that you might otherwise have said. Those things can affect the evidence that you give and they can affect the court's assessment of your credibility.

In October and May, Women's Legal Services Australia called for cross-examination reform, among other things, to make family law proceedings safer. I am meeting with WLSA and Rosie Batty tomorrow to hear from them on how to put safety first in family law. Cross-examination law reform has to be part of making family law proceedings safer.

As I said, Labor has a policy to reform cross-examination. Before the election, the member for Moreton and I, along side Angela Lynch from Women's Legal Service Queensland—who is here today—announced Labor's commitment to changing the rules so that judges would consider whether unrepresented litigants should be required to get a lawyer rather than doing the cross-examining themselves. We committed to more than $40 million in additional funding for legal aid to allow that to happen and, to make sure the victim is not disadvantaged because her ex has a lawyer, that legal aid support would be available for her to get a lawyer too.

This policy would help victims; it would help perpetrators and it would help those who deny the violence as well, because they would have legal assistance in their situation. The Liberals should get on board with this policy. Sadly, when Attorney-General George Brandis was asked about cross-examination reform during estimates, he refused to agree to it. Since then, consistent with his position at the time, the Turnbull government has failed to commit to this reform.

I call on the Turnbull government to commit to reforming cross-examination so that perpetrators of violence can no longer personally cross-examine their victims in the family law courts. Women who, having left an abusive relationship, are facing family law proceedings in court deserve to be treated with respect and afforded justice, as I said. It is wonderful that there has been so much bipartisanship in this place in relation to ending domestic and family violence. It is, of course, wonderful to hear the member for Mallee speak. He was an excellent co-convener of Parliamentarians against Family Violence last year, as were the others that he mentioned, including my colleague and friend the member for Gellibrand.

We have had very broad cross-party support in this place for moving to end violence against women and their children, and there has been cross-party support for the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children, which is about halfway through—it ends in 2022. There is certainly more to be done when it comes to reforming justice. Of course, in family law proceedings that means many things. Cross-examination reform is not the only reform needed. For example, we need to do something about the fact that the Federal Circuit Court, which takes about 90 per cent of first instance family law proceedings, is underresourced. There are not enough Federal Circuit Court judges for the case load that they have, and the consequence for parties is that there are significant delays in family law. The blowout of cases going to final hearing is something that the member for Mallee and many parliamentarians are aware of. That is why Labor was so firm in the election period in committing to additional Federal Circuit Court judges, because we believe that that needs to be addressed urgently.

Of course, once you have more resources of judges in the Federal Circuit Court, you can move to helping make sure that all the actors in the court system—the judges, the registry, the Family Court report writers—have the information available that they need so that they can ensure that they understand the complexity and nuances of violence, what it does to relationships and its interaction with family law proceedings. That needs to happen. People who are before the courts deserve justice. We should make sure that processes cannot be misused. I call on the Turnbull government to get on board the cross-examination reform.

Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.

Sitting suspended from 13:31 to 16:00