The Greens support the Government’s plan to take swift action to rectify the failure to arrange for a start date of a law giving federal courts jurisdiction to settle property and maintenance disputes of de facto couples.

 “The Attorney-General must treat this as a matter of urgency. The Government has no choice but to introduce legislation retrospectively so thousands of settlements from March 2009 until early February this year are not in doubt,” Greens spokesperson for Legal Affairs, Senator Penny Wright, said.

 “What happened is certainly highly regrettable. But there are hundreds of pieces of legislation passed each year and the reality is that, unfortunately, mistakes do happen. We know they have happened in the past and will likely happen in the future.

 “A quick resolution to remove any doubt about the validity of these cases is in the best interest of all parties and must be a priority.”