Family Law Act 1975
The Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia. It has 15 parts and is the primary piece of legislation dealing with divorce, parenting arrangements between separated parents (whether married or not), property separation, and financial maintenance involving children or divorced or separated de facto partners: in Australia. It also covers family violence. It came into effect on 5 January 1976, repealing the Matrimonial Causes Act 1961, which had been largely based on fault.[1] On the first day of its enactment, 200 applications for divorce were filed in the Melbourne registry office of the Family Court of Australia, and 80 were filed in Adelaide, while only 32 were filed in Sydney.[2]
Family Law Act 1975
Background[edit]
Though the Commonwealth had the power since federation in 1901 to make laws affecting divorce and related matters such as custody and maintenance, it did not enact such national uniform laws until 1961, when the Matrimonial Causes Act 1959[3] came into operation. The Act continued the fault-based system operating under state authority. Under the Commonwealth law a spouse had to establish one of the 14 grounds for divorce set out in the Act, including adultery, desertion, cruelty, habitual drunkenness, imprisonment and insanity.[4] In reality, the system was very expensive and humiliating for the spouses, necessitating appointment of barristers, often private detectives, collection of evidence, obtaining witness statements, photographs and hotel receipts, etc. Failure to prove a spouse's guilt or wrongdoing would result in a judge refusing to grant a divorce.[5] The Matrimonial Causes Act 1959 was replaced by no-fault divorce system of the Family Law Act 1975.
The Act was first introduced as a Bill on 13 December 1973. Before the Bill became law, it lapsed and was reintroduced on 3 April 1974 with substantial changes. A third reintroduction was made after the Bill lapsed a second time, with the final reintroduction made on 1 August 1974 with additional changes. The Act was contentions due to its reform of divorce laws. The legislation meant divorce could be obtained with one requisite being 12 months separation. A Gallup Poll taken during negotiation of the Bill showed 64% of men and 62% of women respectively supporting these changes.[6]
The Act has clearly, over time, been one of the most controversial pieces of Australian legislation and has been subject to numerous changes and amendments since its enactment. A number of amendments have reflected the political climate of the times: centre-left Australian governments, such as those led by the Australian Labor Party, strengthened the relevancy of non-financial contribution of the stay-at-home mother in property matters; centre-right governments, such as those led by the Liberal Party of Australia, have furthered the wishes of fathers' groups by extending the rights and responsibilities in negotiating parenting arrangements. The 2006 amendments changed the way matters involving children are dealt with. These included: