Family Law Contemporary Issues

Family law has been broadened in a wide range of areas that the law governs, as over the years the concept of family has been widely diversified due to changes in modern society and community standards. Family law governs areas such as marriage, family relationships, legal rights and obligations of parents and children, adoption and the protection and care of children within a family. However, over the recent years the changes in each area of family law has shown some changes have been effective and others demonstrate the need for law reform. This is due to the rapid change of the law and changing social standards, therefore the law is attempting to balance the rights and interest of the society and individual family members.
The legal recognition of same sex relationships in Australia has dramatically evolved over the years. Same sex relationships have tackled huge issues in regards to marriage, discrimination and property rights. As same sex relationships have been excluded from a number of rights and obligations for example; the legal recognition of same sex marriage. The Marriage Act 1965 (Cth) defines marriage as ‘the legal union of a man and women with the exclusion of others’. Therefore same sex marriage is void in Australia even those who have married in another country it will be seen as an invalid marriage. Having the lack of legal recognition can have direct consequences to same sex relationships and their families as they are excluded from the protections and rights that normal heterosexual couples and families have. This is demonstrated in the Young V Australia (1999) case, where a Sydney man was refused for a veteran’s dependent pension as he was in a same sex relationship. In this incident the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) determined the Australian government had breached the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), as ‘all persons are equal before the law.’ Not only has it breached the ICCPR but it has breach