NT intervention blamed for man's suicide

The family of a Northern Territory man who killed himself two months ago has blamed the federal intervention for his death.

The Indigenous man in his early twenties was charged with carnal knowledge over his relationship with a girl in her mid-teens who was his promised wife.

He was taken into custody when he breached his bail conditions that he not go near the girl, and killed himself after escaping.

The federal police officers on duty had arrived only days earlier under the intervention, and the man's aunty said his death could have been avoided if they'd gone to the community's elders for help.

"They didn't know anyone. They didn't know who to go to. They were new.

"But to save that boy they could have run to the elders to go and get him."

Glen Dooley from the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency has described the death as an avoidable tragedy.

He it was the result of misguided federal policies.

"The government thought there we paedophiles out in the communities and that the intervention would be about flushing them out and protecting kids.

"The reality of what's happened is that such paedophiles have not been found and what police have come across are examples of young men basically having sex with their teenage girlfriends."

Mr Dooley says police should be targeting relationships where there's a bigger age difference.

"When you've got police at loose and at large throughout the Territory now looking to hunt out these relationships, appropriate discretion that was once there isn't being used anymore."

Related:

Indigenous rights complaint lodged with UN
The Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement (ALRM) has now sent a formal complaint to the United Nations about treatment of Indigenous people.

NT intervention failing to curb abuse
The head of one of Australia's peak Aboriginal child protection agencies says the federal intervention has failed to achieve one of its key goals.

NT intervention increasing murders
The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) is blaming the federal intervention for an increase in the number of murder cases it is defending in the Northern Territory.

Aborigines want end to NT intervention
Thousands of Aborigines are petitioning to have the Northern Territory intervention abandoned.

New NT laws: 'more Aboriginal people jailed'
The Australian Council for Civil Liberties says more Aboriginal people will go to jail under proposed mandatory sentencing laws in the Northern Territory.

Intervention delivering 'empty shipping containers, no houses'
A member of the Maningrida community in the Northern Territory's Arnhem Land says he cannot see any infrastructure changes as a result of the emergency intervention, and wants to know where the money has been spent.

Abandon NT intervention: Commissioner
The Northern Territory's Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Tony Fitzgerald says the Federal intervention into remote Aboriginal communities should be abandoned and the legislation underpinning it should be repealed.

Budget to roll out new welfare card
Welfare plan: The new card will be initially rolled out in NT Indigenous communities. The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) says the Rudd Government's proposed welfare debit card is not the best way to help struggling families.

Police cannot cope with backlash
Chief Minister, Paul Henderson, has warned the Federal Government that many indigenous people displaced by the emergency intervention are creating unrest and straining police capacity.

Discrimination Act should apply to intervention: Calma
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner wants the Racial Discrimination Act immediately reinstated in the Northern Territory's Indigenous communities.

Porn ban in Indigenous communities 'racist'
The Australian National Adult Retail Association (Eros) says the Federal Government's ban on X-rated pornography in Aboriginal communities is pointless, racist and should be revoked.

Retailers' warning on welfare card shop spies
EMPLOYEES across the country will be at risk of entrapment by government "spies", retailers have warned, under a Federal Government proposal to control fraudulent use of a new welfare debit card.

Aboriginal delegation heads to UN
The National Aboriginal Alliance is taking its concerns about the Northern Territory intervention to the United Nations

Indigenous welfare quarantine scheme gets go ahead
Parents in four Cape York Indigenous communities could soon have their welfare payments quarantined if they do not take care of their children and homes and do not stay out of trouble with the law.

Till debt do us part

"Marriage is being imposed on everyone whether they like it or not," says Patrick Parkinson, professor of law at the University of Sydney. "It will come as a shock to some people."

PEOPLE thinking of moving in with a partner have been warned to read the fine print on a bill before Parliament that will treat de facto relationships in exactly the same way as marriage.

Some experts believe young - and not-so-young - lovers need to know their lives could be financially entwined forever once they have lived together for two years and then separate.

The changes to federal family law would create a national scheme for property settlements to cover all separating couples, including same-sex couples, and hand jurisdiction to the Family Court.

At present, de facto couples have their disputes over children settled in the Family Court, whereas disputes over property are settled in the District Court under laws that are far from uniform. Many family lawyers believe the bill will correct serious inequities in property settlements, such as for disadvantaged women in long-term de facto relationships and their children.

But others say it goes further than the present NSW law, which many people wrongly believe already affords married couples and de factos equal treatment. The federal law will create the potential for continuing financial obligations that some de facto couples may not want, they say.

"Marriage is being imposed on everyone whether they like it or not," says Patrick Parkinson, professor of law at the University of Sydney. "It will come as a shock to some people."

Tomorrow, Professor Parkinson will be among experts at a Sydney hearing of the Senate legal and constitutional affairs committee, which is considering the Family Law Amendment (De Facto Financial Matters and Other Measures) Bill. It will change the way property can be divided when de facto couples separate by enabling a court to consider the "future needs" of the partners, as happens with married couples.

At present, in making property settlements, the District Court only takes into account the contributions both parties have made during their relationship towards acquiring their assets, including as home-maker and parent.

Under the reforms, the court would heed matters such as one partner's higher earning capacity, each partner's age and health, and one party's role as primary carer of school-aged children. Treating married and de facto couples differently has led to serious inequities, says Chris Dimock, of Dimocks Family Lawyers.

"Take the case of a woman in her 50s who has not worked for 20 years and has raised the children," he said. "She is deserted by her de facto husband who earns half a million dollars a year. Currently the court looks only at her contribution during the past 20 years rather than her future financial needs in the division of property. That is not the case with a married woman."

But Professor Parkinson believes the "future needs" provision may have an unexpected and harmful effect on some de facto couples, especially young people without children.

A young woman who has received a big inheritance, or who is paid more than her partner, will find on separation that he could obtain more of the property. And in some circumstances she may have to pay maintenance under the reforms to support her former partner if he is unable to work.

As well, couples who entered a de facto relationship intending to keep their assets separate will be treated like married people under the changes. The court will be able to combine their assets and divide them according to "contributions" and "future needs".

The bill will also enable superannuation assets to be split, an option now open only to married people.

Denise Tremont, 54, and Keith Crews, 58, of Baulkham Hills, have kept their assets separate since moving in together 13 years ago. Each has two adult children from previous marriages, and several properties between them. They want the children to inherit their respective parents' assets.

"I came into the relationship with a certain amount, and I don't want to make money out of it," Ms Tremont said. "As long as I am secure and my children are OK, I don't feel it's right to make demands of him."

Mr Crews said they had no intentions of splitting but he was surprised that a court might be able to pool their assets.

Mr Dimock said the Family Court was better equipped than district courts to deal with the financial and emotional complexities of relationship breakdown, and to take into account matters such as the length of a relationship. The big concern was that Family Court registries would be over-burdened.

Related:

De facto laws won't suit Gen Y: expert

A prominent legal academic is warning proposed changes to laws governing de facto relationships could limit freedom for young couples.

Professor Patrick Parkinson says many people, especially young couples, might not agree to the division of future superannuation and maintenance.

"Many people don't want that, particularly young people, particularly Generation Y," he said.

"They are trying relationships out, they're seeing if it'll work ... they don't want the life-long commitment of a marriage when they simply move in," he said.

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.

Divorce stopping home ownership

Relationship woes rather than housing affordability is keeping younger Australians from home ownership, a new study has found.

Flinders University academics have found higher percentages of younger Australians are embarking upon home ownership than ever before.

Professor Andrew Beer surveyed 2,600 people to find the average age for first entry to home purchase had fallen over the last 30 years.

"(It's) because of the liberalisation of home lending, rising incomes and increasing aspirations," Prof Beer said.

His fellow researcher Debbie Faulkner said people at younger ages were also falling out of home ownership when divorce or separation ended their inability to maintain mortgage payments.

"Our research suggests that the real challenge for governments into the future is not to help more people become home purchasers, but to sustain home ownership," Dr Faulkner said.

The pair said their research showed it may be appropriate to redirect the First Home Owners Grant towards helping people at risk of losing their homes - rather than accelerating entry for would-be buyers.