Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Multicultural Engagement) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

I rise to take note of the government response to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee report Family Law Amendment Bill 2023 [Provisions], noting that the government response was received by this place on 7 March 2024. I have three points to make in relation to this government response. The first is in relation to process. If this Senate is to do its work properly in terms of reviewing bills that come before this place, then it needs time to do its work. It needs time to do its work. In relation to one of the most substantial changes to the family law provisions this nation has ever seen, the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee had one day of hearings. It was absolutely disgraceful. It had one day of hearings to consider some of the most major reforms ever made to the Family Law Act, which is a piece of legislation affecting all Australians, some in their most difficult times.

We had one day to hear from the witnesses. The witnesses then had three business days to respond to questions on notice. The Law Council of Australia, professors and various non-government organisations representing different stakeholders across this country had three business days to respond to questions on notice, which I and other members of that committee provided. When did we receive the government response to the recommendations that were made by the majority of the committee and also in my additional comments? When did we receive the response? Four months after the bill had been passed. Four months after the bill had been passed, we received the government response. It's now March 2024. We're now receiving the government response to a bill that was passed in the first week of November last year in relation to recommendations that were made by a committee of this place in August last year.