Under the Family Law Act 1975 (Cwlth), the only ground on which a divorce may be granted is the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage. For this to be established, the husband and wife must have lived apart for 12 months or more, and there is no reasonable likelihood of reconciliation.
There were 1,439 divorces granted in Tasmania in 2001, an increase of 110 or 8.3% from the previous year’s figure of 1,329. The crude divorce rate in 2001 was 3.0 per 1,000 population, slightly higher than the 2000 figure (2.8 per 1,000 population). In 2001, there were 809 divorces involving children. This was considerably lower than the 1996 figure of 1,013.
DIVORCES, Selected Summary Measures, Tasmania
|
| Divorces
granted | Crude
divorce
rate | Marriages
involving
children | Duration of
marriage to
separation | Duration of
marriage to
divorce |
| | | | | |
Year ended 31 December | no. | rate(a) | no. | years | years |
|
1996 | 1,582 | 3.3 | 1,013 | 8.8 | 12.1 |
1997 | 1,321 | 2.8 | 831 | 8.7 | 12.0 |
1998 | 1,322 | 2.8 | 850 | 8.8 | 12.2 |
1999 | 1,391 | 3.0 | 823 | 8.9 | 12.4 |
2000 | 1,329 | 2.8 | 775 | 9.0 | 12.3 |
2001r | 1,439 | 3.0 | 809 | 9.7 | 13.3 |
r figures have been revised since previous publication
(a) The crude divorce rate is the number of decrees absolute granted during the calendar year per 1,000 estimated resident population at 30 June. In the interpretation of this rate, it must be kept in mind that a large and varying proportion of the population used in the denominator is unmarried or is below the minimum age of marriage.
Source: Australian Historical Population Statistics (cat. no. 3105.0.65.001). |