Pauline Hanson to tell judge: scrap Family Court

Pauline Hanson will meet Family Court Chief Justice Diana Bryant to discuss the senator’s desire to abolish the court.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson at Parliament House in Canberra.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson will meet Family Court Chief Justice Diana Bryant in Canberra today to discuss the senator’s ­desire to abolish the court.

The Australian understands Chief Justice Bryant agreed to meet Senator Hanson after meeting fellow first-term senator Derryn Hinch late last year.

One Nation went to the federal election with a radical policy to overhaul the nation’s family law system: abolish the Family Court and replace it with a “family tribunal” to consist of people from “mainstream Australia”, rather than judges.

Senator Hanson wants the tribunal to be staffed with “respected members from local community groups encompassing health, ­social and community interests”.

The resurgent minor party is also advocating a review of the child support system, particularly an urgent overhaul of what it calls the “punitive maintenance regime”. The party says it backs joint custody as its preferred ­option, to recognise “the vital role both parents have in relationships with their children”.

Senator Hanson declined to comment yesterday, but her party says it is motivated by trying to prevent “the continual rise of domestic violence and suicide and murders associated with custody battles”.

Chief Justice Bryant has been outspoken in the past about the need for a boost in federal funding for the court, which she said did not have the resources it needed to protect parents and children from violence.

She told The Australian in March that the government should give extra funds to the court — which was established in 1975 — so it could triage serious ­allegations of family violence to protect children. Last financial year, the Family Court published 1390 first instance judgments, ­finalised 354 appeals, saw 20,418 applications filed, and more than 13,000 consent orders made.