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

The government considered this carefully. It is true that we have accepted many of the recommendations of the committee, but in this case the government was of a view that the change was unnecessary, given that the agreements concerned are not legally enforceable. The government certainly believes that parents are capable of making their own agreements without regulatory interference, and the bill also provides, as an added safeguard, that parenting plans must be free from threat, duress or coercion.

It should also be noted that, in exceptional circumstances, a court can issue orders that are not subject to alteration by subsequent parenting plans. Exceptional circumstances are stated to include circumstances in which there is substantial evidence that one party is likely to apply duress or coercion against the other parent in seeking to secure a parenting plan. So we cover off on that aspect that was mentioned by Senator Ludwig in relation to bullying or standover tactics. Also, in relation to the fact that these agreements are non-enforceable, I think that we are looking at a situation where really the parents, the parties themselves, are the best people to work out what is best in the circumstances. The government believes that this would just add further regulation, which in the circumstances is not necessary. This does differ from the recommendations made by the parliamentary committee, which in many respects we agreed with—but in this case we did not.

Question negatived.