0:02 Senator Hansen thank you very much
0:03 Minister can you ask me a question do
0:05 you believe that parents have rights in
0:07 the Family Law
0:10 Court uh children have rights parents have
0:11 have
0:13 responsibilities Senator Hansen no
0:15 that's not the question asked do you
0:17 believe that parents should have rights
0:19 in the Family Law Court thanks chair I
0:20 answer the
0:23 question Senator Hansen well then I'll
0:28 refer to the section 51 um 22 of their
0:32 constitution it states divorce and and
0:34 it says the parliament shall subject to
0:36 this constitution have power to make
0:39 laws for the peace order and good
0:41 government of the Commonwealth with
0:42 respect to
0:46 222 divorce and matal Maring matrimonial
0:50 causes in relation there to parental
0:54 rights and the custody and guardianship
0:57 of infants it basically states that in
1:00 our constitution parental right rights
1:03 you've just stated to me about parental
1:06 responsibility that is not rights do you
1:09 agree a parent has a right to have a
1:12 connection with their child and see them
1:16 on a regular basis the legislation that
1:18 we're dealing with here uh Senator
1:19 Hansen is about the best interest of the
1:21 child this legislation you have not
1:25 taken into consideration what is our
1:29 democratically um uh Constitution that
1:33 we have which is States the parental
1:37 rights under the section so you have not
1:38 um done the right thing by the people of
1:42 Australia in putting that into your bill
1:44 because that is clearly what it's about
1:47 parent yes I agree and no one will argue
1:50 the fact about what's in the child's
1:52 best interest but parents have been
1:54 denied the right to see their children
1:58 based on allegations and lies and what
2:01 the judge determines and I know one case
2:05 whereas six judges denied you know the
2:07 um actually no they didn't deny they
2:09 allowed that parent to have access to
2:12 the child it was contested and it took
2:14 the seventh judge to overturn it so six
2:18 judges were were wrong one was right the
2:20 thing is that there are parental rights
2:23 parents have um parental rights to have
2:25 that connection with their children
2:28 where is this reflected in the bill it's
2:30 not just about the child rights it's
2:32 also about parents extended families
2:35 grandparents rights do you agree with
2:37 that they have a right to see and have a
2:39 connection with their children if they
2:43 are not abusive to that child uh thanks
2:45 chair thanks sen Hansen um we believe
2:47 that the best interest of the child is
2:49 the most important factor very poor
2:51 pathetic answer to me as far as I'm
2:52 concerned you're not answering the
2:54 question because you don't even know how
2:55 to answer it and it's reflected in your
2:58 bill and all that that's all you've got
2:59 is the best interest of the child which
3:01 goes against the UN convention that they
3:04 were a signatry to the Declaration
3:07 you've You' actually have disregarded
3:10 the Constitution parental rights this
3:13 your your whole bill is actually going
3:16 to cause more controvery between
3:18 families divisions you're actually going
3:20 to cause more problems in the Family Law
3:23 Courts with the bill that you've done
3:25 here minister do you have
3:28 children Minister it's not really
3:30 relevant to this discussion Senator
3:31 Hansen well your answer the question is
3:33 if you have no children you have no
3:35 heart you have no understanding of what
3:37 you're talking about because all parents
3:39 have an interest if the other parent has
3:41 the child for a week in their care our
3:44 order Senator Hansen um convin it was
3:45 necessarily a point of order under the
3:47 standing orders but it was certainly an
3:49 appropriate reminder to everybody in the
3:51 chamber to conduct the debate as
3:53 respectfully as they can Senator Hansen
3:56 you have the call but the fact is sheer
3:58 frustration is actually bringing it out
4:00 of me because I'm I am not happy with
4:02 what the answers that I'm getting um
4:04 from the minister with regards to the
4:07 most important um portfolio or piece of
4:09 legislation that's in this Parliament at
4:11 the moment that has affected people's
4:13 lives for decades and the impact that
4:15 it's had on parents and children and
4:17 grandparents and extended families that
4:20 I am I sorry I'm getting frustrated at
4:23 the weak um excuses which all you can
4:26 say is the rights of the child rights of
4:28 the child are very important by all
4:31 means but when we know what happens in
4:33 the court system I think that um people
4:36 are looking for answers I think our
4:40 whole family law system is busted it's
4:41 done and dusted the whole thing should
4:44 be thrown out and redrafted again
4:47 because I think it's destroyed so many
4:50 families and I hear it on a daily basis
4:54 I've been associated with this since
4:58 1996 that I have been dealing with this
5:00 I have gone through it personally myself
5:02 not the court system a lot of people
5:04 gone through but I have I've seen my
5:07 children go through it I've seen family
5:11 members friends people who contact me
5:14 broken absolutely broken
5:16 destroyed suicides that have happened
5:19 before because of this not only with the
5:22 parents but also with children children
5:23 that have been murdered because of this
5:26 because out of a sheer frustration from
5:28 the general public out there who said
5:30 what is happening in that place why
5:32 can't they see what is happening these
5:35 judges are not held to account no one
5:38 seems to be held to account the lawyers
5:40 there keep a case going purely for the
5:42 money that they're getting out of it
5:44 it's becoming money making business at
5:47 the behest of people that are actually
5:49 losing their homes their lives their
5:53 businesses and their families and all we
5:55 have here is failed legislation it will
5:58 continue to fail until you really
6:00 address the real problems with with it
6:03 and on top of that now we see
6:06 organizations and individuals using the
6:08 domestic violence as an excuse to get
6:10 their way whether they're vindictive
6:12 against the other parent or they don't
6:14 want to see them to see their children
6:17 or they're using it for their own um Joy
6:21 I don't know how they can possibly do it
6:23 but that is the problem that we are
6:26 having I have letters here I have
6:27 another you know emails that come
6:30 through to me all the time
6:32 and I feel that this has just been
6:35 buried it has been the biggest issue
6:37 that's come across my desk in the time
6:39 that I've been in Parliament and I know
6:42 that David lelm he was dealing with it
6:43 and when he left the parliament you know
6:46 he said go to Senator Hansen she's the
6:47 only one who's actually been dealing with
6:48 with
6:50 this because no other members of
6:52 parliament here I don't believe they
6:54 really take the the time to really
6:57 understand or debate it or discuss it or
7:00 say what the real issues are involving
7:01 this because they're all terrified to
7:03 mention domestic violence false
7:06 allegations because you get held down by
7:07 the greens you held down by the bloody
7:11 labor party excuse me I trct that get
7:14 held down by the labor party the fact is
7:16 that this has happening you can't
7:18 continue to bury your head in the sand
7:21 we have an opportunity now to make a big
7:23 difference to this the Senate inquiry
7:26 which we have a joint Senate inqu a
7:28 joint um inquiry into with the house of
7:32 reps in the and the and uh the Senators
7:36 there was 10 of us you know I I found
7:39 out there's only three of us that
7:42 actually on that whole inquiry who had
7:44 any knowledge of it who'd actually been
7:47 through it you might have heard it but
7:49 personally been through it to understand
7:52 what is happening out there this whole
7:54 report that was handed down you know
7:57 everyone Sid stepping the whole issue
7:59 without really going to the guts of the
8:02 matter what is happening in our family
8:05 law courts the Coalition tried to do
8:06 something with the murder of the two
8:09 courts which I fully agreed with because
8:11 you you have to have more judges dealing
8:13 with these issues to get the matters
8:15 heard that was very important you had
8:16 judges sitting there doing nothing
8:20 working 99 hours a year if that or a few
8:23 days a year and they were just waiting
8:25 to retire to get their pensions where
8:27 people are going waiting for years
8:29 determinations aren't even brought down
8:32 for for years determinations aren't
8:34 brought down for that period of time and
8:35 parents are sitting there waiting oh
8:37 what in the meantime the kids from this
8:40 age are up to here or have you seen the
8:42 parents who said I was denied the right
8:44 to see my child and the child catches up
8:46 with me years later and said why didn't
8:48 you fight for me why didn't you do
8:51 something why aren't I part of your
8:54 life and I met a mother and daughter son
8:56 a father and daughter like that they
8:58 said the courts denied me the right to
9:00 see my father
9:02 now that I'm growing up I'm late 20s
9:05 we've actually connected now I
9:07 understand his story now I understand he
9:08 was denied the rights in the courts
9:11 because they denied him the right to see
9:15 me and then you talk about you know I
9:22 Minister parents who who are denied the
9:23 right to see because of false
9:26 allegations the courts take the stance
9:28 well we better not let that parent knew
9:31 that child just in case it might be some
9:33 some truth in the matter no former court
9:37 case no proof no nothing but allegations
9:39 so they denied the parent that right to
9:42 see the child and then they say
9:45 okay we'll allow you to see your child
9:46 but you're going to have to be in a
9:49 contact center well guess what they have
9:52 to wait at least four to six months some
9:54 even longer than that even to get into a
9:57 contact center and then on top of that
9:59 the hundreds of dollars that it costs
10:02 for them to actually um pay the contact
10:04 center so they can see the child and
10:06 then because it's been such a long
10:08 period of time the courts takes the um
10:09 when it goes back to
10:12 court years later or because you haven't
10:15 had connection with your child much at
10:18 all we we must take this very slowly
10:19 we're only going to let you see the
10:23 child again for maybe a few hours a
10:25 night this is what's happening in your
10:28 system nothing in your bill really
10:32 addresses this minister at all nothing
10:35 at all and when I spoke about the um
10:37 these health issues guess what a father
10:39 told me he said I have the child most of
10:41 the time he said I can't even get a
10:43 Medicare card so when the child gets
10:44 sick I can't even take the doctor
10:45 because the mother won't give him the
10:47 Medicare card guess what he wants the
10:49 child's reports from the school to know
10:51 how well they're doing guess what the
10:53 school won't give it to him without the
10:55 mother's permission but it's all right
10:57 for The Stepfather to get it not the
10:59 actual father The Stepfather
11:02 and there's been no forms of of abuse to
11:06 that child whatsoever none so the parent
11:08 who's got the child Cody of the child
11:10 has actually all access to everything so
11:12 the other parent can't get anything less
11:14 they go begging to to the mother and the
11:16 government Department won't give them a
11:18 Medicare card without the mother's
11:20 permission so that's what I'm saying to
11:23 you Minister where is it in this bill
11:26 that the the parent who has the child
11:27 you know a lot of these parents on
11:29 welfare they can't afford the 90
11:32 plus to go and see a doctor whereas they
11:35 might get the rebate back and help them
11:37 where is their right to actually then
11:39 have access to the Medicare card for the
11:42 child why isn't that in the
11:45 bill Minister uh thanks chair thanks
11:47 Senator Hansen and I think it'll be fair
11:50 to say senator Hansen that the approach
11:53 of the now labor government and uh you
11:56 on these matters have been Divergent for
11:58 a period of time and I do acknowledge
12:00 that this is is something that you have
12:02 uh been vocal about for a long period of
12:05 time but also I think it would be safe
12:07 to say that the view of the labor party
12:09 in opposition and now in government has
12:11 been different from uh from yours on
12:13 these matters uh the one thing I would
12:15 agree with you on is that people going
12:18 through uh these scenarios and families
12:19 going through these scenarios are really
12:21 difficult uh and they are doing it
12:23 really tough and um fortunate enough
12:24 that I haven't gone through it myself
12:26 but I certainly know people have and
12:29 observed how much uh how much the
12:31 challenging scenario it can be for those
12:34 people um that's why in our view um this
12:38 legislation uh is about uh making it
12:40 simpler for people um that is the
12:41 objectives of the government and what
12:44 we're trying to achieve uh and that is
12:46 the legislation before us today um
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