Little AndrewFAMILY COURT (SUPPORTING FAMILIES IN COURT) LEGISLATION BILLFirst ReadingHon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister for Courts): I move That the Family Court (Supporting Families in Court) Legislation Bill be now read a first time.One of the provisions in this year's Budget—actually as part of the COVID recovery and response programme—is to improve the operation of the Family Court. Right now we know there is a major problem: there is a significant backlog. We know that since the reforms from the previous Government in 2014 of the Family Court the number of without notice applications in Care of Children Act cases has gone from 30 percent of those applications to the court to now 70 percent. The changes in 2014 removed the right of a parent who's going to the Family Court for a Care of Children Act case to have legal advice and assistance from the outset but with one exception and that is that you make a without notice application. In order to make a without notice application you have to make allegations of a certain quality and kind to qualify for that. So that set of reforms in 2014 set up an incentive for parties to characterise their allegations against their former spouse or partner with whom they are separating in order to get access to that legal advice and at least to legal aid for that.This bill makes changes to two pieces of legislation. One is the Legal Services Act which is the Act that governs the awarding of legal aid. It reinstates the right to legal aid for Family Court cases. The second is the Care of Children Act which also puts a limitation on the right to legal aid—or at least legal representation—for those cases and reinstates the status quo ante as at 2014 prior to the current statutory provisions being enacted.It was interesting—if I was at my most charitable and I am—that there were honourable objectives with the changes that the previous Government sought and that is they were concerned about the rise of legal aid and concerned about the delays in the court. Indeed the Hon Judith Collins in her third reading speech noted the cost of operating the Family Court was increasing at an unstainable rate and then she said that the changes that were being enacted then and have been in place since 2014 mean that parties will be supported to navigate the court system independently for straightforward matters. Improved information services a simplified three-track court system and easy-to-use forms will be introduced." In fact the three-track court system has complicated things and there were never easy-to-use forms; in fact they've been revised and changed multiple times to try and make them easier but they have become complicated and convoluted. The Hon Judith Collins said also at the time "this legislation will reduce the stress on families and children because disputes will be settled more quickly and fewer cases will end up in court." The reality is that the waiting time for the disposal of Care of Children Act cases has gone from roughly around 230 days at the time of the 2014 reforms to now 305 days on average. So it hasn't had the intended effect.The overwhelming feedback I get talking to parents who've been through the process talking to the lawyers who have represented some of them talking to others involved in the court and through the correspondence that I—and I suspect pretty much every MP—have received is that that inability to get access to legal advice from the outset to know what to expect and to know what their respective rights are has been a big impediment to the more efficacious and efficient disposal of those cases. So this turns that around. There is a Budget amount that goes with it. The additional cost of the legal aid over a four-year period is just under $25 million. That tells you something too because the expected saving of legal aid when the reforms were put through originally was meant to be considerably greater than that but the reality is with now 70 percent of Care of Children Act cases being without notice applications legal aid has continued to be spent but actually it's not well spent because the parties then just get into more of a log jam it becomes more complicated and the cost still is there.So this will be better. Most importantly it will be better for children who ought to have certainty and stability about their living arrangements as soon as possible after mum and dad have separated. At the moment the legal arrangements prevent that from happening. So this bill enables changes to happen. It's accompanied by some additional spending not only of legal aid but also in having additional personnel in the Family Court registries to assist parties in cases to get access to not only the legal advice they need but actually the welfare support and other support that they need to navigate the process. There's also a Budget amount to increase the payments to lawyers for children. There are some fantastic lawyers for children but you get some basket cases as well and we need to be doing everything we can to step up the quality of those who are meant to be the voice piece for children in these proceedings. It is an obligation on the State under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and we fully intend to discharge our duties and obligations under that convention.So this bill does those things. They're very simple changes but they are profound in their impact. And on that basis I commend the bill to the House."