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Thursday, 3 November 2011
Page: 12799

Mr BRIGGS (Mayo) (09:48): I start these remarks by looking closely at the standing orders and reflecting upon the outfit that Deputy Speaker Slipper has on today. I thought there may be a red jacket, but he is resplendent in red. This is part of a campaign that he has led so well in this place. I congratulate him for this.

Today we acknowledge the terrible events surrounding the death of Daniel Morecambe and the impact this had on his family. His family has been through pain for so many years. A number of people in this place are wearing red today. The member for Shortland has outdone even the deputy speaker with her outfit. This is a great acknowledgement of a very important cause.

It highlights an issue which is close to so many of us in this place, child protection laws in Australia and ensuring that we have the strongest set of child protection regulations that we can have so that families can feel their children are safe in our society. It is very important to make sure we get these laws right. Another issue which has been brought to my attention by numerous constituents in the last short while is some of the rulings that have been made by the Family Court or the Magistrates Court in relation to family law matters. I think there are some concerning developments in relation to child protection. I think this is an area where the parliament must continue to ensure that we get the balance right. There were significant changes made by the former Howard government and I think that change has been very important. But that is not to say that we should ignore examples and cases because this is a difficult area of law. It is not always right, but we need to find the best balance we can to ensure that children who are caught up in these terrible family disputes and family breakdowns have full protection and are not being used as unfortunate pawns by the system. There are some recent examples, and I have engaged with the shadow Attorney-General, Senator Brandis, who I think is thinking deeply about these laws. He is talking to many on our side and many who have been affected by it, because at the end of the day this area obviously is solved if we can keep families together. But unfortunately too many families do not stay together and children suffer. I think we need to be very conscious that the laws need to be improved where they can be.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Hon. Peter Slipper ): I call the honourable member for Melbourne Ports.