No Fault Divorce In Australia Essay

The enactment of no-fault divorce, under the Family Law Act in 1975, was introduced with the forefront intention of providing equitable and balanced outcomes for all stakeholders. However, in more recent times, many conservative political figures and other members of society, often the more religiously orientated, have all been exceedingly sceptical of the current legislation. Of particular note, in 2009, Tony Abbott extended this scepticism by openly declaring his disapproval for the 1975 legislation. Predictably, later that year Abbott drafted the proposal for reform – a system which strikingly resembled that of fault divorce. Fringe Faith, active writer on BlogSpot, later concurred to this proposal, and reiterated that “divorce is too easy”

This completely repealed the previous legislation, the Matrimonial Causes Act 1959, where fault was the underpinning factor when determining divorce. Factors such as habitual cruelty, violence, insanity, imprisonment and adultery were all permissible factors to warrant the dissolution of marriage. The key intention of fault divorce was largely to “…protect the institution of marriage by not permitting bored or disillusioned spouses to divorce at will” (AWAVA, 2003). Comparatively, the current 1975 legislation constitutes only three grounds to allow divorce. Section 48 of the Family Law Act explicitly makes reference to these, which include: the sufficient evidence to state that there is a clear ground for divorce under the principle that “the marriage has broken down irretrievably”; the establishment of the ground where the court is satisfied that the parties have “lived separately and apart” for a duration of 12 months continuously; and that there is no “reasonable likelihood of cohabitation” possible beyond all reconsideration (Austlii – Divorce, 2015). However the declaration of Abbott’s proposed reform would abolish these principles and undoubtedly lead to the replication of 1959 fault