Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was saddened today to read a judgement delivered in the Family Court in Brisbane yesterday—saddened, but not surprised. The judge had to vacate a trial that had been set down for three days because this Morrison government cannot manage the family law system. The ban to prevent the perpetrators cross-examining their victims commenced in September 2019. The government ran out of money to fund the scheme the same year. They then put in a few more dollars to top it up and, again, the funding has now run out in February. Real families now cannot continue their family law trial without representation, and there is no funding left. We knew this would happen. It was predictable.

At the time, the shadow Attorney-General and the shadow minister for family violence said, 'There is one glaring and very, very major omission: additional funding for Legal Aid to make it all work.' Families who are experiencing family violence are being put on hold because there is no money for their matters to proceed. The judgement gives some details about the state of the Brisbane registry. There are more than 35 trials that can't continue because the Morrison government has not provided the funding necessary to protect victims from being cross-examined by their perpetrators.

This is a government demonstrating practically that it doesn't care about families fleeing family violence. If the Morrison government cared about families more than they cared about their precious surplus, they would actually put some investment into the Brisbane registry. This is a disgrace, and I ask the Attorney-General to remedy it as quickly as possible.