Family Law – Fast Facts
- The number of marriages for every 1,000 people has generally fallen in the last 40 years (9.3 in 1970, 7.4 in 1980, 5.3 in 2001, 5.5 in 2008).
- Cohabitation before marriage has increased significantly in the last 40 years. In 1975, only 16 per cent of those married lived together beforehand, increasing to 23 per cent in 1979. By 2008, however 78 per cent of those married lived together beforehand.
- Queensland and Tasmania recorded the highest proportion of couples living together prior to marriage.
- The divorce rate from second marriages is a little higher that that from first marriages.
- In 2009-10 the Queensland Police recorded 49,372 domestic and family violence incidents (an increase of 11.5 per cent on the previous year) and laid 8,033 charges for breach of a domestic violence order.
- In the same period, the courts received 22,754 applications for domestic violence orders (an increase of 8 per cent on the previous year).