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

Will you actually review this part of the legislation? It shouldn't be up to the discretion of the ICL. A lot of the complaints we heard in the inquiry from parents were that there was no communication between the ICL and the children they were supposed to be representing. That is a big problem. ICLs were biased towards one client or another, and the children's best interests were not taken into consideration. It should not be up to the discretion of the ICL to determine how often they meet with the child, and once is not good enough.

Also, if they say they want a support person there with them, children have that right to ask for that support person, and it should not be up to the ICL to determine whether or not they allow that support person, because the ICL can turn around say, 'They are a hostile person.' Maybe that's not up to them; it is up to the child to determine if they want a support person. I would like to see this put in the legislation so that we are protecting, as you keep referring back to all the time, the best interests of the child. Therefore, this would be in the best interests of the child if they were allowed to call on the support person that they require. Will you review this in your legislation?