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Divorce Rate not all bad
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By Julie
Szego
Social Affairs Reporter, the Age
September 3 2002
Australia
's soaring divorce rate was "not
necessarily such a bad thing" and the Federal Government should be
wary of coercing married couples to stay together, Family Court Chief
Justice Alastair Nicholson said yesterday.
He
also said fathers were generally better off after divorce than mothers and
that men often sought more contact with children to gain a financial
benefit.
In
an interview with The Age, the Chief Justice said there was no problem
with the Federal Government setting up programs to keep families intact.
But he questioned the recent hand-wringing from politicians about higher
divorce rates and warned against nurturing violent relationships.
"...
I think it's not necessarily a bad thing that there's been an increase in
the break-up of unsatisfactory relationships. I think the old picture was
you were locked into them," he said.
"Is
it the state's cause for concern that people who regard their relationship
as unworkable should break up? You could have arguments both ways about
that.
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"There
are obviously occasions... where people perhaps walk out of relationships too
easily or too readily. Providing they're not being coerced to remain in them, if
you can persuade them that it's worth another try, well that's fine.
"But
you've got to be very careful. You shouldn't be trying to, for example, nurture
violent relationships or particularly relationships where one party is a victim
of psychological abuse or violence... It's not always easy to detect when we
know there's a lot of hidden violence and abuse that just doesn't emerge."
He
said women's increased independence also meant they were now less likely to
stick with unhappy relationships.
Last
year 55,300 Australian couples divorced - 11 per cent more than in 2000 and the
highest figure since 1976, when no-fault divorce took effect - and more than one
in five families with children under 15 are headed by a sole parent.
But
Justice Nicholson said it was important to remember that most relationships did
not end in a break-up.
Australia
's divorce rate was below that of the
US
or Scandinavian countries, he said.
Justice
Nicholson dismissed as groundless claims by men's groups of a Family Court bias
towards mothers.
"Why
a judiciary that was three-quarters male would collectively decide to take a
view inimical to fathers is beyond belief. What no one seems to understand is
that judges determine individual cases on the facts. There's no question of any
systemic approach one way or another."
Overall,
research showed fathers were financially better off after divorce than mothers,
who tended to come out "losers".
He
described as problematic the proposal to link fathers' child-support payments
with their level of contact with children.
"Once
you get a financial prize for being able to make more contact, then I think it
promotes a litigious approach to it. In fact, we see evidence of that, that
people are not really seeking extra contact for the child's benefit but for
their own and that's pretty troublesome."
But
Justice Nicholson, who leaves the bench next February, believed the institution
of marriage would survive "against the odds", although governments
needed to provide families with more affordable child care.
He
also criticised the lack of federal recognition of same-sex unions in relation
to property disputes. Law reform was also needed to protect the rights of sperm
donors who help same-sex couples conceive.
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