Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

With all due respect, Minister, it would appear that even you are confused by the answer, but that is just an observation. The problem that I am getting—and I think Senator Hanson and Senator Scarr are too—is in terms of (a) what the government is doing in relation to removing the objects at this point in time and (b) what you are putting in and what you are incorporating by reference. You've decided the objects of the parenting framework should direct a person—we're going to go with the unrepresented litigant, because someone with a lawyer is going to be paying them a lot of money, and that lawyer is going to be able to say, 'I'm going to go through the UN Convention for you,' but the unrepresented litigant does not have that luxury. But, based on everything I've heard to date, there is no guidance on what that means and what impact it has, because a person needs to actually understand how to interpret the particular articles.

Why you chose to put this in the legislation I no longer know, but to the average person, I would humbly submit, it is fundamentally unclear. The poor person or parent who is having to look at this bill as amended by the government now is going to have to go through some interpretive process relating to an international convention, work out what that means—again, during one of the most stressful periods of their life—and then articulate to the court why they should have access to their children. Can we just go through some of the articles? I'll read out article 5 of the UN convention. I'm hoping this is actually going to help parents. I don't know—they might be able to pick up the committee stage of this bill to work out what they're meant to do. The good news is: the first thing we've established is that you've got to google it. That's a good step in the right direction. This is what article 5 states:

States Parties—

Well, I hope unrepresented litigants know what 'states parties' are—

shall respect the responsibilities, rights and duties of parents or, where applicable, the members of the extended family or community as provided for by local custom, legal guardians or other persons legally responsible for the child, to provide, in a manner consistent with the evolving capacities of the child, appropriate direction and guidance in the exercise by the child of the rights recognized in the present Convention.

What guidance do you give to a parent in terms of how they will interpret that when figuring out what a court is going to do in terms of custody of their children?