Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

The government acknowledges that rewording the presumption was suggested by the ALRC in light of the significant community misunderstandings of the provisions as equating in equal time. However, the proposed amendments do not address other fundamental concerns that have been raised by stakeholders such as the Law Council of Australia, the Family Law Council, National Legal Aid and Women's Legal Services. Any presumption of this nature would detract from a clear focus on the best interests of the child. As the president of the Law Council of Australia, Mr Murphy, stated:

Presumptions unreasonably fetter the discretion of the court, and provisions around parenting should not prioritise or favour any particular parenting arrangement, as is currently the case.

He said that 'parental responsibility should be a matter for the court to determine' in each most commonly raised and relevant decision-making matter in family law.