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

We will continue to go through the reports. The answer is: it wasn't, because the reports didn't make a recommendation to repeal the presumption. The reason I'm going through it report by report is that we're talking about a body of evidence here and the weight of evidence. The point that I'm making—and I believe Senator Hanson, through the evidence she is reading into the record, is also making—is that the Attorney has represented to the Australian people that there were more than two dozen inquiries into the family law system and has implied that the repeal of the presumption was supported by those inquiries. Based on the evidence that I'm going through—and we will continue to go through more evidence—this is, I argue, both untrue and misleading.

We'll now look at the final report of the COAG Advisory Panel on Reducing Violence against Women and their Children from 2016. Again that was considered an incredibly important report at the time it was handed down given it was a COAG, Council of Australian Governments, advisory panel. I ask again: was the decision to remove the presumption a decision the Attorney made because of a recommendation in that report?