Australians are staying married for longer

AUSTRALIANS are ditching the seven-year itch and staying married for longer.

The divorce rate has fallen to its lowest point in a decade, ABS Social Trends Statistics released yesterday show.

The divorce rate per 1000 people has fallen from 2.8 in 1997 to 2.5 in 2006 after hitting a decade-high of 2.9 in 2001.

In the past decade the number of divorces has fallen from 51,4000 nationally in 1996 to 51,300 in 1996.

In 1996 we were married an average of 7.7 years before separating, but we now stay together for 8.9 years - a decade-long high.

But divorce continues to have a major impact on kids - with around 50,000 children involved in divorce every year. However women are having fewer babies, and having them at a later age.

In 2006, 11 per cent of women in their mid 40s had four or more babies, compared to 35 per cent of women this age in 1976.

In 2006 more than one-third of women in their early 30s had not had any children.

Between 1995 and 2005 the number of women having their first baby at 35 increased from 5 per cent to 10 per cent.

In 1976 women had an average of 3.1 children each, but by 2006 they were having just 2.0 babies, which is below the population replacement level.

Women are increasingly swapping babies for briefcases, entering the workforce in unprecedented numbers. In 1976, 55 per cent of women worked outside of the home, but by 2006, 70 per cent of women had a paid job.

Australia's Muslim women are having more babies, the figures also reveal.

They have 2.9 babies each on average, compared to just two for non-Islamic Australian women, but there is little difference between the birth rates of Catholic and Anglican women.

Women from those religions average 2.1 babies each.

West Brunswick mother of two-year-old twins, Emilia Berryman, reflects the trend towards older mums. She is now 38 and had Jack and Thomas when she was 35.

"I guess I met my husband later in life, but it was after I had done a lot of travelling and other things," Ms Berryman said.

They now plan to have a third child. She has taken redundancy to become a full-time mum.

Financial pressures causing couples to split

Relationships Australia says rising living costs and housing stress are causing couples and families to break up.

Financial counsellor Fiona Hawkins says more couples are struggling with relationships because of increased financial pressures.

And she says counsellors are also seeing an increase in problem gambling.

"Frankly when there's no other way to make the budget balance, some people will head to the pokie room and that can put enormous strain on a family's stability," she said.

Payout for Sydney bomb plot accused

A judge has ruled it was not reasonable for the crown to institute legal proceedings against a couple accused of plotting to plant a bomb in a Sydney street.

In the NSW Supreme Court today, Justice Peter Hidden said the contents of taped phone calls between the pair could never have risen "above the level of suspicion".

Jill Allison Courtney, 27, of Casula in Sydney, had been accused of agreeing to plant the bomb in return for a promise of marriage from her boyfriend, Lithgow prison inmate boyfriend Hussan Kalache, 28.

They faced a NSW Supreme Court trial in February, where they both pleaded not guilty to conspiring to murder unknown persons between June 1, 2005, and March 24, 2006.

They also denied an alternative count of conspiring to cause an explosive to be placed in or near a public place with the intent to cause actual bodily harm to unknown persons.

The prosecution based its case on a series of phone conversations made while Kalache was serving a jail term for murder.

But after the crown finished its case on February 29, Justice Peter Hidden directed the jury to acquit the couple.

He ruled the evidence called by the crown was insufficient to establish the charges.

As a result, lawyers for Ms Courtney and Kalache - who is serving the remainder of a lengthy term for the murder of a drug rival - applied for their legal costs.

In agreeing to the application today, Justice Hidden noted the only evidence of a "combination" between the two were the phone calls.

"I found that evidence to be deficient such so it was not open to the jury to find the necessary meeting of minds to establish a conspiracy," he said.

In ruling on the application, the judge had to consider whether there was an "inherent weakness" in the prosecution case.

"The calls, as evidence of 'combination' could never have risen above the level of suspicion," he concluded.

Justice Hidden said he was satisfied it had not been reasonable to institute the proceedings.

Both Ms Courtney and Kalache were funded by Legal Aid NSW, which will now have its costs repaid by the Attorney General's department.

Govt to fund 75 family counselling centres

The Federal Government has announced that 75 new family counselling services will be funded this year.

There will be 25 Family Relationship Centres, which are designed to help families resolve their disputes without resorting to court action.

The Government says another 28 centres will provide services to help children whose parents have separated.

Another 22 early intervention centres will also be established to help prevent family breakdowns.