Fed govt orders family law system review

The Turnbull government has ordered a comprehensive review of the family law system to ensure it can deal with domestic violence and child abuse cases.

Attorney General George Brandis announced the review - the first in 40 years since the system was set up - in Tuesday's budget.

The government will spend $12.7 million on new parental management hearings - a forum to resolve family law disputes between self-represented litigants.

They are expected to be fast, informal and non-adversarial.

There will also be $10.7 million over four years for extra family consultants to deal with family law cases and $3.4 million over two years to expand a trial of domestic violence units in legal centres.

A previously announced funding boost to community and indigenous legal services was also secured, totalling $55.7 million over three years.