Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Hansard source

Well, finally this bill, the Family Law Amendment (Western Australia De Facto Superannuation Splitting and Bankruptcy) Bill 2020, comes before this parliament and, now, the Senate. It has taken way too long to get here. There has been unimaginable hurt created because the Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments have taken way too long to act on something that should have been done and dusted in a day. I've stood in this place and seen legislation go through both houses in one day. This bill, which deals with discrimination against de facto couples in WA over years and years, has taken a very long time. Of course, the discrimination has been particularly against women. As we know, women have much lower superannuation balances, and de facto couples, when they've chosen to separate, have not been able to legally split their superannuation.

There's one person who's been central to holding this up—that is, the member for Pearce, Mr Christian Porter, who, ironically, was Attorney General in the WA state parliament and is now Attorney-General in this place. The bill has sat with him for a very long time, and he must have been aware of this issue. I've got my good friend Rachel Roberts to thank for telling me about this six years ago—six years ago!—when the Barnett government refused to do anything about the splitting of superannuation for de facto couples. I thank Rachel for being so steadfast in making sure we dealt with this issue. I also thank John Quigley, Labor's Attorney General in the state parliament, for urging the Attorney-General, Mr Christian Porter, who's absolutely central to this, to act so that finally the superannuation of those de facto couples in Western Australia who, unfortunately, split up will be treated in exactly the same way as that of all other de facto couples across this country. I have no idea why the Attorney-General chose to sit on this legislation for more than a year—to sit on a bill that's not controversial and that deals with discrimination in Western Australia against de facto couples who are separating—and I'm really pleased that the bill is finally before the Senate.