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