One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has claimed that women were lying about domestic violence to get more access to their children after separations.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has caused outrage after making a series of comments on ABC Radio this morning, implying women who report domestic violence are often lying.

Senator Hanson said she had seen cases weekly where supposed victims of domestic violence had taken out false apprehended or domestic violence orders to look more sympathetic in the eyes of a family law judge.

Senator Hanson, who has been chosen by Prime Minister Scott Morrison to co-chair a new parliamentary inquiry into family law, refused to cite specific evidence to Radio National’s Breakfast host Hamish Macdonald.

“I’m seeing too many cases where … parents are using domestic violence to stop the other parent from seeing their children.” She claimed there were cases of perjury in the system that went untried.

“If people make false allegations, you’re going to be held accountable for it,” Senator Hanson said of her hopes for the outcome of the inquiry.

“You’re not going to take your lies into the courtroom so you gain in the system of possibly more time with your children.”

When asked by Macdonald what evidence she had of these “false” cases of domestic violence, Senator Hanson said she knew of “cases”, citing her own “personal experience” of her son’s custody battles.

“Charges weren’t laid, and they were dropped,” Senator Hanson said of her son’s experience with the family law courts. “Yet he had to go through the procedure of other courts.

“Domestic violence orders can be as little as sending text messages saying you want to actually see your child (or) how is the child,” the Senator claimed.

“That‘s classified as domestic violence. Domestic violence is not all about physical violence.”

The Senator said a person can claim they are “in fear”, and go on to use apprehended violence orders to “support their case why a parent shouldn’t see their children”.

“I think this is so wrong,” she said.

Macdonald pushed Senator Hanson on specific cases where victims of domestic violence had fabricated false stories of being abused, but she refused to cite any specific cases.

“No, Hamish, let me just say this comes across our desk on a weekly basis, if not a daily basis sometimes,” she insisted. “How unjust the system is.”

Senator Hanson also claimed there were a “number of men” who went through the experience of being victims of domestic violence.

“A lot of it is not physical violence, it’s domestic violence in other ways,” she explained.

Senator Hanson told Radio National that the newly announced parliamentary inquiry would be taking a “holistic” look at all parts of family law.

Senator Hanson said unless there were drug and alcohol or domestic violence issues “prior to separation” she saw no reason why both parents shouldn't both have shared custody of children, following a formal separation in the courts.

The interview caused a flurry of responses online, with listeners frustrated that Senator Hanson hadn’t cited evidence for her claims.

It’s immensely frustrating to hear @PaulineHansonOz claiming that false accusations of domestic violence are widespread, but refusing to cite any evidence #rnbreakfast — maddison connaughton (@madconnaughton) September 17, 2019

Can Pauline Hanson provide evidence for this claim? — Libbi Curtis (@LibbiCurtis) September 18, 2019

@ScottMorrisonMP Scott, I wouldn't let Pauline Hanson be chair person of my dunny brush, and you have put her in charge of a parliamentary committee.



Seriously, WTF is wrong with you? — 💧David W. (@davidwild66) September 18, 2019

Pauline Hanson now running social policy for the Morrison govt. 😳 #auspol — 💧Simon Rosenberg (@simon_rosenberg) September 17, 2019

Pauline Hanson co chairing an inquiry into the family court and stating that women are frequently lying about DV (with no evidence of the claim), is a disgrace. Her bias should exclude her from the position #auspol #FamilyCourt — Random Sarah (@random_pest) September 18, 2019

The One Nation leader confirmed she and veteran Liberal MP Kevin Andrews will be co-chairs of the newly-announced inquiry into family law. The committee will investigate areas including court time frames and costs, custody arrangements and child support.

Men’s groups have applauded the decision but it’s been met with fierce criticism from anti-domestic violence campaigners.

The Prime Minister has argued the inquiry would try to strike a balance between competing interests.

“This isn’t about picking sides,” Mr Morrison told the Seven Network. “It’s about listening to Australians and ensuring that we’re taking a timely review talking directly to them.”

Senator Hanson has previously pointed to her personal experience in having two marriage breakdowns and being the mother of a parent who was denied custody of their children.

Asked whether Mr Morrison had given this inquiry the green light to keep her on-side in the Senate, she dismissed the suggestion as “a load of rubbish”.

“Absolute rubbish. I put my case forward and originally spoke to Malcolm Turnbull about this, then to George Brandis, about having a review into the Family Law court system. I was the one who got (Former Family Court Chief Justice) Diana Bryant down to Canberra and had a meeting with her and the CEO registrar of the courts.

“The whole fact is I’ve been on top of this and put my case forward. I will fight for many things in parliament and I will prove to the PM how worthy this is. He knows how important this is to the people of Australia, and I thank him from the bottom of my heart for backing it.”

Mr Morrison confirmed he would support Senator Hanson as co-chair of the inquiry. “She has been an advocate on this for a long time like many members of parliament have,” Morrison said on Today.

The Prime Minister said the family law system is “in need of improvement”.

“Family and relationship breakdown is one of the prime causes of suicide and other terrible things that happen in our community,” he said.

Women’s Legal Services Queensland chief executive Angela Lynch said while yet another inquiry ran, one woman every week would die.

“How many more women and children have to die in this system? And we’re now going to wait another 12 months,” Ms Lynch told reporters in Canberra yesterday.

She said somewhere between 50 and 85 per cent of family law matters involved domestic violence.

“The greatest impediment to women leaving domestic violence in this country is the family law system,” she said.

“We’re asking for reform, we’re asking for specialisation, we’re asking for a family and domestic violence court.” The government will consult Labor on the terms of reference, and the inquiry will run for about a year.

— with AAP