Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

Minister, you didn't answer my question. I said, 'Do you believe that domestic violence allegations should be determined in a court prior to them being brought before the family law court?' Why I persist with this is that, in 90 per cent of hearings in which allegations have been made, the judge found no risk of sexual harm to the child or children. In 25 per cent of these cases the allegations were found to be deliberately misleading, and in another 46 per cent of these cases the allegations were mistaken. In eight per cent of these cases the allegations were not believed by the judge. In 62 per cent of these cases the judge awarded shared or sole parental responsibility to the parent against whom the allegations were made.

Given these facts, we have a big problem with false allegations that have being brought against the other parent in the court system. We have a system which, as your bill clearly states, is going to leave it to the courts to determine how to handle these allegations based on who presents the best case and who has the best lawyer. If these domestic violence allegations are not determined in a court prior to the family law court, how is anyone going to get to the truth of the matter? It is in the best interests of the child that these lies are exposed and dealt with, rather than allowing them to go on, because they lead to a parent being denied the right to see their children. Even if they do get access, they have to wait months—and it costs them hundreds of dollars—to see the children in contact centres. Where in the bill are you dealing with these false allegations and these issues?