Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

We are not minded to support the amendment, although not because we do not seek to have reviews in legislation—in fact, we supported one today. However, we do not support one in this area for a couple of reasons. It is a good idea to have reviews. In this area, it is more important to have continuous reviews to, in short, ensure that the family law is not something that is simply shelved after today and then returned to in two years time. People who live with this on a daily basis and others who are interested, including political parties, should be able to have input to ensure that this area of law is not static.

We need to ensure that the government’s response cannot be, ‘What we’ll do is put that in the basket, think about it and deal with it when the review is up.’ We would not want them to put it off until the review period so changes which might be required in the short to medium term do not occur. Even after that review period was up, you could end up with the government continuing to review it for a time. By the time you came back, three years might have gone by.

You have already indicated that the Australian Institute of Family Studies is conducting a review. You might expect the government to pick up, have a look at or develop anything that comes out of that. There will be other reviews, I suspect. What I would not want the government to do in response to some of those studies and reviews is to simply say, ‘We’ll look at it when it is up for review.’ I know that does not meet some of the concerns you have, Senator Stott Despoja, but in short we are not going to support the amendment. We think it is something that, as I have said, should be constantly reviewed, and I have outlined the reasons—and in truth I think they are compelling reasons—why in this particular area it is important to have an open mind.