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

Minister, I'll go back to my amendment to do with legal fees. When I referred to the legal costs, I forgot to say what the committee said in the second interim report about legal costs. I put this in my amendment and I ask you to look at it because the legal fees are killing a lot of families. The committee recommended a legislated limit on the fees a legal practitioner may charge a party to a proceeding, set at either $50,000 or 10 per cent of the combined value of the asset pool, including superannuation, whichever is higher. The recommendation provides that greater fees may be charged in exceptional circumstances with leave of the court.

The government shares the committee's concern with reports of excessive legal costs experienced by parties that are disproportionate with the value of the property pool in dispute. This is a complex issue, as there are a number of contributing factors to the cost of family law matters, such as delays in court processes, the issues in dispute, the behaviour and attitude of the parties, timely access to support services and alternative forms of dispute resolution, the duration of proceedings and the number of court events.

Minister, I ask you again: will you please consider looking at capping fees in these court proceedings? You keep saying 'it is in the best interests of the child'. It is in the best interests of the child that their parents actually do have a roof over their head and don't lose that roof in the court system to the cost of lawyers' fees and charges. Some people were saying that the fees were around $200,000 to $300,000. One family paid over $1 million in court costs. So I am asking you again: will you consider capping legal fees, which was the committee's recommendation? The other thing that you've taken out are the costs that can be awarded for false allegations of domestic violence. Why did you take out the costs to do with domestic violence?