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

The Australian Greens share the concerns that Senator Ludwig just expressed, so I am not going to go through them again other than to say that we share those concerns and therefore oppose this amendment. I do seek some clarification, however. I am hoping that the minister can perhaps put it on record—that is what I am looking for. During the committee hearing it was expressed by witnesses that they were concerned that this would place a new, enormous workload on the Family Court because people would seek to bring past cases. It was very clearly stated by the department that in fact it does not apply to past cases. I think it would be a good idea to send a pretty strong message about that because, judging by the number of emails that I have received, I think there are some people out there labouring under the misconception that they will be able to take past cases back to Family Court under this new legislation. I think it would be worth clarifying that point now so that it is on the Hansard.