Australian Family Law

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Recommended: Discuss the difficulty of defining ‘family’ and the changing concepts of family

In this day and age there are many variations of what constitutes a couple or family in comparison to many years ago. Long ago the idea of a ‘nuclear family’ was considered the norm; it consisted of the conventional husband, wife and children . But as our society progressed through the years this definition became less conventional and criticisms were made, this definition of ‘family’ did not account for gay unions, soul parents nor did it acknowledge the prevalence of extended family. The definition of family has changed over time, as have the socially defined roles of mothers and fathers. Within these varied family units, situations occur in which divorces and separations take place and a lot of the times these tricky situations may involve children, which can make an already tricky situation even more problematic. There are pieces of legislation which are in place which aim to protect the best interests of a child during the time their parents are going through divorce but sometimes these avenues can be more problematic and ultimately destroy unions whereas other avenues of dispute resolution such as mediation, albeit with its own criticisms, helps to keep relationships afoot in that it provides an opportunity for peaceful and mutual agreements to be made in a more laid back environment.

In the Commonwealth of Australia’s Constitution Act s 51, powers of the Commonwealth Parliament to legislate on family law subjects is laid out, it states:

“The Parliament shall, subject to the Constitution, have power to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the Commonwealth with respect to: (xxi) Marriage: (xxii) Divorce and matrimonial causes; and relation thereto, parental rights and the custody and guardianship of inf...

... middle of paper ...

...amily Law, 4th edn, Lexis Nexis, Australia

McDonald, P 1984, Can The Family Survive? - Change in Australia, Discussion Paper no. 11, Australian Institute of Family Studies, accessed 10 April 2012 http://www.aifs.gov.au/institute/pubs/dp11.html

Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act s 51, Prepared 2003,

Accessed 3 April 2012, http://fedlaw.gov.au/comlaw/comlaw.nsf/440c19285821b109ca256f3a001d59b7/57dea3835d797364ca256f9d0078c087/$FILE/ConstitutionAct.pdf

Commonwealth Consolidated Acts, Family Law Act 1975, Australasian Legal Information Institute (Austlii), http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/fla1975114/

Goode v Goode (2006) FamCA 1346 (http://www.familylawwebguide.com.au/attachment.php?id=43&keep_session=21863255)

Marriage Act 1961 (Cth)

Family Law Act 1975(Cth)

• s 60I

• s 60CC

• s 60CC (3)(a)

• s 60CE

• 61DA

• s 65DAA

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