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

I can't get an answer out of you! Anyway, we're down to five minutes and I'm just going to sum up how I've assessed this whole lot. I appreciate the fact that, when we put this extension of time forward to ask you the questions, the crossbench and Senator Pocock actually supported this extra time that we have been given to have this debate tonight.

The answers that I believe that I've got out of the minister tonight have been poor, pathetic and unprofessional. I don't believe he's really across the brief and he doesn't know exactly what he's doing. It's very good that he has his team of advisers there to tell him what to say and do. I'm here by myself. There are no advisers around me. I'm trying to deal with this, trying to get my head across this piece of legislation. I've had to get my head across a piece of legislation that they've drafted, but, at the end of the day, there are pages and pages of amendments to their own bill which they couldn't even get right. I'm trying to go through these amendments to their own bill, and they couldn't even get it right in the first place.

The biggest thing that I found tonight that we've spoken about as part of this legislation is the fifty-fifty shared parental responsibility, and they have completely taken it out of the bill. It was recommended by the ALRC to actually not take it out but to reword it. The minister stood and said it was confusing—that was their excuse! It is confusing to people. They thought they had fifty-fifty per cent of custody over the children. That was determined, and it's up to the legal people to explain to them what it is about.

As I have said, the people in the courts who are actually going for custody—all they're fighting for is time to see their own children, to be involved in their children's lives. You're actually cutting them out of that now. You're going to leave it up to the court system to give full responsibility to one parent. You're cutting the other parent out of their life. Do you know the psychological damage you are going to be doing to these children, because who knows that that one person is going to make the right decisions for that child?

Then, what happens? I'll tell you of a case where the mother got custody of the child and she didn't want the father to see the child until the child was 13 or 14 years of age. We're talking about a child who, at that time, was four years of age. She didn't want the father to have anything to do with the child, but the courts didn't say that. They said, 'No, the father can have contact with the child every second weekend.' So what happened was, she was given full custody of the child as far as schooling, education, health—everything. Guess what? She couldn't handle the child. By the time the child was seven years of age, she rang up the father and said, 'You can take him.' Now the father has the child, but she's got the full responsibility of controlling the healthcare card, the schooling, the education and all the rest of it or there are threats. So what does the father do then? You've taken away the shared parental responsibility so the father has ended up with the child. This mother said, 'No, you can't see her until 14.' She couldn't control the child anymore—it was disrupting her life with the new boyfriend. So she's actually dumped the child on the father. This is not just an isolated case. This is what's happening.

I'm just saying: Review this legislation. Have a look at these couple of things that have been raised here tonight because they're important. It's not just my point of view. I'm speaking on behalf of a lot of parents out there—not just men. I stand and fight for men's rights, by all means I do. I also fight for women's rights, but I think men have copped a raw deal in our court system because I think a lot of people have lied about domestic violence issues to gain support for their own case, and this is so wrong.

This is so wrong, so I'll tell the parents out there: You brought that child into the world. You are both parents to that child, and it's about time you get rid of your selfishness and your vindictiveness and you actually start treating that child not as a piece of equipment or an asset that you can pass around and use at your convenience. It's about you conversing with each other, communicating and, as the government says, what's in the best interests of the child. That's my main concern; it's about the child. Many people want to be fantastic, good parents out there, but you're denying them that right.

Progress reported.

Senate adjourned at 20:30