Mr MUTCH (10:48 AM) —I rise to speak on the report produced by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs entitled To Have and to hold: strategies to strengthen marriage and relationships . In doing so I note that this report, having been tabled, has received a great deal of media coverage. I note a particular article written by Paul Gray in the Herald Sun on Wednesday 24 June, in which he says:

In my opinion, this report on marriage and relationship breakdown will be the single most significant document to emerge during the life of the Howard Government.

I think that we should not, as the journalist says, underestimate the importance of this report. I would, at the beginning, like to congratulate the chairman, the honourable member for Menzies (Mr Andrews), who has taken a particular and personal interest beyond the call of duty on this subject.

As members of this committee, we have produced a report that I think will be used as a textbook by many people interested in the area of family relationships in Australia. Indeed, the committee conducted extensive surveys in relation to this report, and they are recorded in the report. The committee secretariat has also done a very good review of the extant literature in this important area. So, as I said, this report will be used as a textbook by many people.

The preface of the report commences by stating:

This is a report about strengthening marital relationships. It is about preventing marital distress and the consequent breakdown of relationships. It arises from our concern for children; for their future, their happiness and their ability to form their own loving and fulfilling relationships.

Some of the main causes of family breakdown in Australia, and obviously elsewhere, are unemployment and work related problems, often getting down to a lack of money and financial worries and difficulties. In many instances we have poor parenting skills. There is also a problem with poor communication skills. We have the ever present and most unfortunate existence of domestic violence, which is a scourge on our community. Some people claim that the ease of getting a divorce often leads to people entering into relationships that they probably should not have entered into in the first place. Then we have other factors such as the geographical and social isolation of families, and indeed sexual matters as well.

Some conclusions were reached by the committee. One was that marriage benefits the health and wellbeing of individuals and, conversely, separation and divorce bring with them increased risk for all family members. It has been estimated that the direct cost of marriage breakdown to the nation is $3 billion per year. When you include indirect costs you can double that figure, but only $3.5 million is spent each year on preventative marriage and relationships programs. The committee believes that this imbalance requires correction.

The main recommendations—and there were 55 recommendations in all—are very important. The central theme of this report involves the recommendation that the family relationships services program should clearly recognise in its objectives and funding mechanisms programs of prevention—marriage and relationship education and family skills training—as distinct from programs of therapy, counselling and mediation. There needs to be a strengthened national strategy to strengthen marital relationships through programs of preventative education.

The priority areas for marriage and relationship education relate to three life transition events—namely, marriage, the birth of the first child and the separation/repartnering stage for those who have gone through the unfortunate experience of separation and divorce.

The funding system for the marriage and education program, however, is very inequitable and needs to be corrected as a matter of urgency. For example, the value of the grants ranges from as low as $10,000 to as high as $209,000. There is no excuse for the fact that funding per recipient was over $1,000 in some areas but as low as $7 in other areas. The committee has recommended that approved agencies and organisations be provided with an annual grant of $30,000 to cover administrative costs and that any further grants be made only on a per participant basis.

It is very important that we examine promoting relationship education in schools, because this is a whole of society question. The committee calls for a $1.6 million increase in funding for preventative programs in marriage and relationship education and a new, fairer and transparent funding system that will encourage more people to participate in these programs. It also calls for an increase of $1.5 million in funding to programs in marriage counselling.

The committee recommends that a new council for marriage, relationships and parenting education be established as a peak body in the field, both to represent the educators involved in this work and, where appropriate, to provide advice to the Commonwealth government.

It is recommended that the Australian Institute of Family Studies be relocated to the Attorney-General's Department and its statutory function to promote, by the conduct and encouragement of research, identification and understanding of the factors affecting family and marital stability be renewed and emphasised.

In the area of training for marriage and relationship educators in funded agencies, the committee also recommends that all educators working for funded agencies should have reached the national competency standards by the end of the 1998-99 financial year; from 1 July 1999 new educators working in funded agencies must attain the national competency standards within six months of commencing to work for the agency unless they have previously attained the standard; and all educators should complete a minimum of 50 hours practice each year to maintain their accreditation.

The institution of the family is the most important part of our lives. When you are down on your luck and in desperate need, you always rely on your family for support. They are the ones who are going to stick with you when the going gets tough. Being the integral part of our society, it is logical and important that the government would invest money into families to help them operate more effectively. In this day and age when too many marriages end in divorce, quite obviously more needs to be done to promote the importance of the family. Of course, both sides of the House are at one, I believe, in wanting to promote these values.

Although it is difficult to put a dollar value on the distress caused by family breakdown, it does, in any terms, represent a significant social cost to the community. These issues are exactly the types of issues that the federal government must address. The importance of the family can never be overestimated and it has a major impact on the quality of life and mental, physical and the general wellbeing of all Australians.

One thing I did note also, in the preamble to this report, and I would like to cite this as being an important acknowledgment. It is noted on page i:

The central importance of marriage and family was explicitly recognised in section 43 of the Family Law Act. This section provided that, in making any adjudication, the Family Court must have regard to the need to preserve and protect the institution of marriage as the union of a man and woman to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life.

I think it is nice to restate that in view of the constant publicity we hear these days from people who are trying to redefine what it means. I would like to say that I think that is exactly the definition of marriage and it should remain that. I would hate to see changes to that because I think that it is so important that we have a full understanding of the basic unit of our society. Of course, there is more than just the husband and wife. There is also the extended family: the aunts, uncles, grandparents and all the rest that make the family the clan, and the extended family structures are the most important part of our society. They always have been and they always will be. I think that it is important to reiterate that definition.

In concluding, I would like to give great credit to Claressa Surtees and Mary Anne Neilsen of the secretariat who have done a great deal of work on this report. It is an important report. It has been acknowledged as being so and I am very proud to have been part of this legal and constitutional affairs committee because the standard of work coming out of this committee is exemplary. It really does make me feel proud to be part of it.

I think that people should also be aware that all of our reports are now available on the Internet and so they are readily accessible to people. In fact we received a very nice letter from a Trevor Hansford who noted in relation to our earlier report on saving the census:

I was also most impressed with the format and presentation of this report. It opens a new and effective means of allowing the public, particularly in remote areas, to access the wealth of information available.

He was able to access all of the report on the Internet. In concluding I would like to note the importance of this report and hope that all honourable members take the opportunity to look at the executive summary at the very least because this is an important area for all of us.

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Forrest) —The home page is noted on page viii, I believe.