Each link leads to the page of the site devoted to that topic for this country. The general topic sits at the top of each of those pages.
The country in brief
Australia, 27 million people, regulates marriage, divorce and parenting at federal level under the Family Law Act 1975: no-fault divorce after twelve months' separation, shared parental responsibility, and since 2009 near-equal treatment of de facto couples for property and maintenance. Same-sex marriage has been legal since December 2017, and the states register relationships and run the family violence order systems.
Abortion has been decriminalised in every state and territory, most recently Western Australia in 2023, and the eSafety Commissioner and the Privacy Act 1988 police online harms and personal data. The pages below set out, theme by theme, what Australian law provides, how the procedures work and where to turn — for residents and for the many couples with a partner abroad.
Advice
- Adoption
- Childcare
- Copyright
- Data protection
- Divorce
- Domestic violence
- Fundamental rights
- Healthy, good-looking teeth
- Identity theft
- Image rights
- Inheritance
- International dating
- Marriage
- Matrimonial property and inheritance
- Naming law, country by country
- Online shopping
- Partnerships and cohabitation
- Privacy
- Romance scams
- Same-sex marriage
- Sexual offences committed abroad
- Speech and online harassment
- Step-families
- The religious ceremony
- Wedding customs and ceremonies
- When your teenager's first relationship begins
Health
Sexuality
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