Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The Greens strongly support this amendment, and I also raised concerns in my speech during the second reading debate. There is no doubt that there has been a concerted campaign aimed at the problem of the concept that there is a huge number of false allegations of abuse and that this is a bigger problem than the unreported and unrecognised abuse. It is acknowledged that there is a huge issue of unreported and unrecognised abuse and that violence orders are being abused as a legal tactic. There is no doubt that there has been a campaign around this.

We are deeply concerned that this clause will discourage people from making allegations of abuse and raising the issues of family violence and abuse. We are deeply concerned that it does not seem like there has been much rebuttal of the argument that there is a huge number of false allegations out there that have been put up to deny fathers. Let us name it: that is what the fathers groups are saying. They say that these false allegations are being raised to deny them access when, in fact, the research does not substantiate this at all. As I said, I have seen very little evidence that people have taken the trouble to put paid to these allegations. The research simply does not support that there is a whole range of false claims out there. I will take you to another study, by Michael Flood of the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University. He says:

These examinations find that allegations rarely are made for tactical advantage, false allegations are rare, the child abuse often takes place in families where there is also domestic violence, and such allegations rarely result in the denial of parental contact.

He also goes on to say:

When fathers are subject to allegations of abuse, their chances of being denied contact with children are remote even if these allegations are substantiated, and the numbers of parents falsely accused of child abuse are tiny compared to the numbers of children who are being abused and about whom the Family Court never hears ...

It has been raised that false allegations are being raised to deny fathers contact, when the evidence from the Family Court shows that this is not true. It is not true (a) that false allegations are being made all over the place—the number is in fact tiny—or (b) that false allegations are being made to deny fathers contact. The evidence shows that, even when the allegations are substantiated, fathers are not denied contact.

However, the amendment is going discourage people from making allegations in the first place, so we are going to get even more cases of unreported and unrecognised abuse and family violence. This is of extreme concern for us. It is pandering to the claim of false allegations, which has not been substantiated. Nor, if people do make allegations and they are substantiated, is contact denied. This clause is unnecessary because I do not believe the case for false allegations has been built. The impact it will have is to discourage women from making claims in the first place, which will lead to more unreported and unrecognised abuse and family violence. It is not going to have the impact that the government supposedly requires by supposedly getting rid of this huge number of false allegations, but it will have a deleterious impact on women and children. Combined with some of the other amendments that we have already talked about, this will potentially lead to more children being put in situations where they are exposed to further abuse and family violence.

We do not think this amendment is needed. As I said, we think it will have a deleterious impact. We believe that this issue was discussed quite well in the committee hearing. A recommendation was made by the committee. It was one of the few recommendations that I felt very strongly that the Greens could support, yet the government have ignored it. I strongly ask them to reconsider and to look at the evidence, because the evidence is not there. I put it to you that there is a pandering going on to be seen to be doing something about this when there is no issue in the first place. There is no issue that needs to be dealt with here—none—yet it will have an impact on women and children. It is not in the best interests of children, and I request that the government reconsider this and withdraw this particular amendment to the act.