Just Married? Adversarial Divorce and the Conjugal Body Politic

Abstract

Fault does not figure in Australian divorce law. The Family Law Act 1975 regulates divorce, allowing a decree nisi to be issued where a marriage has irretrievably broken down. Australian regulations do not inquire into the cause of breakdown, but simply seek evidence that the divorcing spouses have lived separately and apart for at least 12 months. However, it has not always been so and, if the backlash against womens interests accelerates, it may not remain so. Recently, mens rights groups such as the ‘Blackshirts’ and ‘Promise Keepers’ have added their weight to the backlash push for a return to those ‘family values’ epitomized by an earlier, ostensibly pre-feminist era. These groups trumpet the desirability of truly lifelong marriage and an end to ‘easy’ divorce. They favour marriage laws harking back to obsolete, fault-based judgements. This article revisits divorce premised on matrimonial offence. With the benefit of hindsight, the Acts adversarial operations and effects are re-examined to expose the vestiges of coverture inhering therein.