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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 7 Hansard (22 September) . . Page.. 1983 ..

MR STANHOPE (continuing):

In the interregnum between taking my leave of the Commonwealth Public Service and taking this position, I worked for a month as the duty solicitor in the domestic violence unit in the Magistrates Court as an attached solicitor to the Legal Aid Office. I worked in the unit representing applicants for domestic violence orders. That experience was very interesting and gave me a significant insight into the issues facing victims of violence who suffer from intimidation and threat. It was very worrying too to me when I discovered the number of instances of children seeking orders against other children. It was of deep concern to me. I have to confess that in my protected innocence I was not aware of the significant number of children who present before the courts seeking orders against other children or of the number of parents of children seeking orders against other children on behalf of their children.

I was concerned when I was working in that office, and I was there for only a month. It was a fairly small window of insight that I had. I represented the mother of a six-year-old child seeking an order against another child who was persistently bullying and beating her child at school, to the point where the child had been so traumatised that she could no longer induce him to attend school. This legislation was sought to be used in that instance.

There is a very significant problem in relation to violence, intimidation and threat within our community. That leads us to acknowledge that we must take whatever steps we can to eradicate that and to continue to educate all parts of our community, men and boys in particular, that violence in all its emanations is completely unacceptable.

I note that this legislation is the result of significant community consultation; that it results from report No. 11 of the ACT Community Law Reform Committee. I note that the legislation follows very closely that report and those recommendations, which were made following significant community consultation. We endorse that. I foreshadow, however, the need for this legislation to be monitored to determine whether or not it is effective and whether or not it does achieve the sorts of aims that we would hope it will.

We have all received advice from the Lone Fathers Association raising certain issues that we must always be mindful of. The scrutiny of Bills committee raised certain issues in relation to this legislation on which we should at least stop, pause and give consideration to. I have received other advice from practising lawyers within Canberra suggesting that the rejigging of the balance in this legislation needs to be monitored to determine whether or not the legal rights of all parties appearing before the legal system, rights which we are also required to acknowledge and protect, are maintained in an appropriate balance.

I think that is all I need to say, Mr Speaker. The Opposition supports this legislation. The Opposition notes that it is legislation which very closely follows broad-based community support. We believe the legislation is an enhancement to the powers of the courts in dealing with relationships between human beings. The law has the greatest difficulty in seeking to adjudicate in situations where relationships between people break down. There are real problems, particularly where there is a significant, noticeable and accepted imbalance in the power relationships between the parties in relation to whom the violence has occurred or the threat of violence has occurred.

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