Lisa Young

The second edition of this highly-regarded work provides extensive coverage of the ways in which the law and children interact. Topics such as criminal law, the internet, immigration law, family law, medical law, discrimination law, education and the legal process are included with contributions from expert authors in each area. Each chapter is contributed by an expert on that topic and is written to provide a clear, authoritative and accessible discussion suitable for a wide audience. This edition provides an extended socio-legal focus, ensuring the work is relevant for practitioners, non-legal professionals working in child-related areas, researchers and students in both law and non-law units at undergraduate and postgraduate level. It includes discussion on topical issues such as: surrogacy, youth rights, the internet and cyber bullying, international adoption, migration, international child abduction, the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Assault, and the impact of the Convention on the Rights of the Child on Australian Law. Features • Authoritative commentary by expert contributors • Includes socio-legal focus to ensure accessibility and relevance to a wide market • Includes traditional topics and areas of recent prominence

Family Law in Australia identifies the underlying principles of family law by examining the historical, social and legal background to the present law. It discusses the evolution of family law in its contemporary context and critically evaluates patterns of past and future reforms. The eighth edition of Family Law in Australia has been restructured and fully revised by a team of authors highly experienced in family law. The comprehensive, detailed and accessible analysis of key family law issues and their positioning in the social environment make this text invaluable both for practitioners and for scholarly and vocational study in law. Features: New chapter added on dispute resolution in family law; Coverage throughout of recent case law and legislation including changes in parenting, property and de facto relationships; Includes material on the psychological context of family breakdown and attachment theory; Family violence chapter rewritten including consideration of the impact of legislative amendments. Table of Contents 1. Law, Society and the Family 2. Dispute Resolution in Family Law 3. Family Violence and Abuse 4. Constitutional Powers and the Family Courts 5. Marriage and De Facto Relationships 6. Nullity, Divorce and Termination of De Facto Relationships 7. Parentage 8. Child Related Disputes: The Legislative Framework 9. The Exercise of Discretion in Reallocating Parental Responsibility 10. Financial Support of Married and De Facto Partners 11. Financial Support of Children 12. Property Distribution on the Breakdown of Marriage: Preliminary Issues 13. Property Distribution on the Breakdown of Marriage: Adjustment Issues 14. Property Distribution on the Breakdown of Marriage: Additional Issues 15. Property Distribution on the Breakdown of a De Facto Relationship

Aborigines inhabited the state of Western Australia for well in excess of 30,000 years prior to European settlement and for at least 31,000 years in the south west of Western Australia prior to Captain Stirling’s arrival.1 In the traditional Aboriginal society that existed prior to European settlement—and which continues for many Aboriginal families today—children had a special place in the extended family network developed on kinship lines.2 This was unlike European-British society at the time of settlement, in which a father was generally the guardian of his children and so held parental legal power. Despite this legal arrangement, in most cases the mother undertook the role of nurturing and caring for children. The pattern of the biological family being predominantly responsible (both legally and in fact) for child-rearing remains the norm in contemporary non-Aboriginal Australian families. In contrast, in traditional Aboriginal society child-rearing was, and is, the responsibility of the extended family or other members of the tribe. However, the fact that, at some particular stage, someone other than the biological parents may undertake the primary care of a child does not mean that parental ties are severed or that the parents have relinquished their parental rights or love for that child. Another key cultural difference in family life is that Aboriginal children have traditionally been allowed greater freedom of movement than in non-Aboriginal families and less attention is placed on material comfort, discipline and training.3…