Chris Ellison (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Justice and Customs) Share this | Hansard source

The exposure draft of the bill did have the terms that Senator Ludwig mentioned, but of course an exposure draft is just that—it is out there for comment—and if we were to treat it as a fait accompli the opposition would be the first to complain. This was a process that was comprehensively consultative across the country, with, as I said, 2,000 submissions to the House of Representatives committee and hundreds of witnesses. The committee suggested the presumption that we now have—equal shared parental responsibility. That was endorsed by the Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee. We have taken on board their recommendations and we agree with them.

Question negatived.