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Amalgamated court may be ‘first legislative failure’ for Morrison
Attempts to rush bills through Parliament to merge the existing Family Court and Federal Circuit Court could result in a big loss to start Scott Morrison’s prime ministership, says Centre Alliance Senator Rex Patrick.
Jerome Doraisamy
While the eyes of the nation were on the leadership spill, which saw Malcolm Turnbull overthrown and Mr Morrison installed, Attorney-General Christian Porter introduced two bills into the House of Representatives designed to bring together the two courts, as proposed earlier this year.
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But while these bills are significant and impact a wide range of people, the government is attempting to rush them through Parliament in order to have the court merger come into effect at the start of 2019, Senator Patrick (pictured) said.
“An untidy game of ‘push and shove’ between the Senate Chamber and a Liberal-controlled Senate Committee may well be setting Prime Minister Morrison up for his first legislative failure,” he said.
He recounted that the Senate Selection of Bills Committee had been “unable to reach an agreement on a reporting date” for the bills, and that the Senate had voted for a reporting date of 15 April 2019.
“Noting the significance the change will have on everyday Australians, this can’t be rushed,” he posited.
But, he continued, when the “Liberal-controlled Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee met … it defied the will of the Senate” by setting a “rushed” submission closing date of 14 September.
“This is totally unacceptable. There’s over 600 pages of complex legislation and the committee expects judges, lawyers, family law stakeholders and mums and dads to read, consider and respond to the committee in just three weeks.”
“A truncated process is utterly inappropriate for legislation of such complexity and consequence to so many Australian families.”
At this stage, Centre Alliance does not have a position on the bill, Senator Patrick said, but will certainly not be voting for anything that has not been properly scrutinised, including consideration of the view of all relevant stakeholders, he said.
“Prime Minister Morrison needs to take his Attorney-General to one side and tell him to settle down,” he added.
“[He] risks his first major legislative failure if he attempts to rush these bills through the Senate. Both he and the Attorney-General need to recognise that the Senate takes its legislative review role seriously and does not take direction from the executive.”
Senator Patrick said he will move a motion in the Senate, when Parliament resumes in a fortnight, to shift the submission closing date to late November.
