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

The government's approach of a full repeal is the most direct approach to addressing misunderstandings about this issue amongst the general public. I mentioned before and acknowledged the ALRC suggested wording. I mentioned the Australian Institute of Family Studies' reports from 2015 and 2022 that showed the orders for shared parental responsibility are made in a majority of litigated matters, and in the presence of safety concerns. In our view, that is a strong indicator that presumption is not working as intended, even when matters are determined by a court. The Australian Institute of Family Studies, from the very first evaluation of the 2006 family law reforms after the introduction of a concept of equally shared parental responsibility, found that there was a common misunderstanding that the presumption related to shared care time and, further, the study noted that this confusion has resulted in disillusionment amongst some fathers who find that the law does not provide for fifty-fifty custody.