Doorstop interview – Parliament House, Canberra

E&OE

Subjects: Introduction of family law reform; Aged care negotiations; Middle East conflict

ATTORNEY-GENERAL MARK DREYFUS: Good morning. Today, the Albanese Government is going to be introducing new family law reforms which will make the system fairer, simpler and safer for separating families. Shockingly, family and domestic violence is present in approximately 80% of parenting matters in the family courts. We're determined to build on the reforms that we brought to the Parliament last year, reforms which took effect in May of this year, which put children and the best interests of children at the centre of parenting decisions that are made after couples separate. This is something that is a long process of reform, that's why we're continuing to work on reform and bringing a Bill to the Parliament this morning. It's going to make sure that when the family courts are considering property and financial settlements, making decisions about what's to happen in future with property and the finances of separating couples, that family violence is taken into account. This is a very important step. It's going to include provisions about pets. Shockingly, pets are sometimes used as weapons in family law disputes. This will make sure that the family courts will be treating pets as a special form of property, and again, can take family violence into account in making decisions about pets and making sure that they're not continuing to be used as weapons in parenting or property disputes.

JOURNALIST: Has the Government managed to reach a deal with the Opposition yet on the new Aged Care Act?

ATTORNEY-GENERAL: We've been working hard on reform in aged care, and I'm going to leave direct questions about what's happening there to my excellent colleagues, Mark Butler and Anika Wells, who are the Aged Care Ministers.

JOURNALIST: Surely you would know though -

ATTORNEY-GENERAL: Again, I'd ask you to direct your questions to the excellent Aged Care Ministers.

JOURNALIST: The Opposition this morning called for the government to release the advice it was given on granting visas to Palestinians fleeing Gaza. They say that, you know, the Government's been misleading Parliament on this. Do you think that's an appropriate course of action?

ATTORNEY-GENERAL: Let's be clear about this. No one has left Gaza since May. The border of Gaza is closed, it's controlled by Egyptian and Israeli authorities. Our Government has relied on the advice of security agencies. The arrangements, the vetting, under our Government has been exactly the same, conducted by the same security agencies, the same security personnel, as under the former Government. And I think that some of the questions that Mr Dutton and the Opposition have put forward have been ludicrous. As the Prime Minister said yesterday, we've got here in Mr Dutton and the Opposition, an Opposition that's more concerned with the Middle East than with middle Australia.

JOURNALIST: What's your response to Abul Rizvi's comments today, he suggested that the decision to grant visitor visas over an alternative pathway would have likely been against departmental advice.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL: What Mr Rizvi actually said, and I'd invite everyone to look at his story, is that Australia should be a country which shows compassion for people fleeing violence, for people fleeing war zones.

JOURNALIST: He's also questioned the choice of visitor visas, so again -

ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I'm not going to engage in speculation, I'm going to point to what Mr Rizvi actually said. And I'd say again, that the arrangements, the security vetting, the security agencies, the personnel in the security agencies that are in use now under our Government are the same as were in use under the previous government. Unlike, it appears, Mr Dutton and the Opposition, our Government has complete confidence in our security agencies. If Mr Dutton and the Opposition are doubting our security agencies, let them come out and say so.

[ENDS]