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Two articles FYI.
www.news.com.au/lifestyle/relationships/divorce-is-costing-the-australian-economy-14-billion-a-year/story-fnet09y4-1226979027353

6 July 2014

Divorce and family breakdowns are costing the national economy more than $14 billion a year in government assistance payments and court costs, an exclusive News Corp analysis has found.

That figure has blown out by $2 billion in the last two years alone, with each Australian taxpayer now paying about $1100 a year to support families in crisis.

The financial sting is one of the reasons why Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews has confirmed he will overhaul early intervention strategies in a bid to strengthen Australian families.

Mr Andrews told News Corp that as early as this month he will act to establish an expert panel on early intervention, which will be made up of a mix of practitioners and academics.

It will examine strategies to lower the divorce rate and better identify and assist vulnerable children and young people, including looking at whether more psychologists need to be deployed in kindergartens and preschools across the country.

“The reality is that most programs are programs that try to ameliorate the impact of marriage and family relationship breakdowns,” he said.

“There is not enough that goes to early intervention.”

A News Corp analysis of information from the federal Attorney-General’s Department <http://www.ag.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx>, the Department of Human Services <http://www.humanservices.gov.au/> and the Department of Social Services <http://www.dss.gov.au/>, shows that this financial year alone the government will spend $12.5 billion on support payments to single parents, including family tax benefits and rent assistance.

Another $1.5 billion will be spent on the administration of the child support system, while the cost to taxpayers from family disputes in Australian courts is $202 million.

Almost 50,000 people get divorced each year in Australia, and while the divorce rate declined between 2002 and 2008, it is now on the rise again.

Over the last two years, the cost of divorce to the national economy has increased by more than $2 billion, or 17 per cent.

Mr Andrews — who in May estimated that each divorce was costing taxpayers at least $100,000 — said understanding what divorce was costing the nation was important.

“Whatever the figure comes out as, it is still a significant amount of money and I do think it is worth knowing because we are more likely to do more in terms of prevention,” he said.

In addition to his trial offering of $200 relationship counselling vouchers <http://www.news.com.au/news/queensland/federal-government-offers-newlyweds-200-voucher-to-attend-marriage-counselling/story-fnihsrf2-1226808063646> to couples looking to wed, which has this week seen 250 couples register for the program in its first two days, Mr Andrews said the overhaul of early intervention programs will also examine whether current schemes, like the Communities for Children program <http://www.dss.gov.au/our-responsibilities/families-and-children/programs-services/family-support-program/family-and-children-s-services>, are operating as effectively as possible.

He will also demand government service providers be more outcome focused.

EARLY INTERVENTION KEY

Academic and relationship expert from the University of Queensland Matthew Bambling said he was not surprised the cost of divorce to the national economy had now toppled $14 billion.

“It is one of the key sources of transitory poverty among working people,” Dr Bambling said.

“People may be required to rely in greater part on the social welfare system, there is the potential for court costs borne through the government-funded system,” he said.

“If we are not thinking about this as a society, we are likely to pay the price with a lot more mopping up at the other end.”

Relationships Australia’s Grant Pearson <http://www.relationships.org.au/> has welcomed the government’s relationship counselling voucher system and its push to overhaul early intervention strategies.

He said more government resources for programs which deliver early intervention, like relationship counselling, would be beneficial both to couples and to the nation’s budget bottom line.

“For every program we have, we have waiting lists,” Mr Pearson said.

“There is often a wait to get into our main line services, and it can be up to two months — which is quite a while if a client is under pressure in the eleventh hour of their relationship,” he said.

RELATIONSHIP PRIORITIES

Like all besotted first time parents, Rebecca and Marcus Andreoli are quickly adjusting to the pressures that come with a having five month old baby.

But the Bondi couple, who have been together for seven years and married for half of that time, are conscious of the importance of taking time out to prioritise their relationship amid the whirlwind of parenthood.

“We definitely try to get out somewhere alone together, we try to do that once a fortnight,” Ms Andreoli says.

She said spending time together as a couple, as well as with their friends, helps keep their relationship strong.

Communicating well with each other about the demands of daily life is also a priority for the couple.

“We talk to each other about little things before they become big issue, we wait until we are both calm and then bring things up early, because it’s too easy for little resentments to build,” she said.

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http://www.news.com.au/national/queensland/federal-government-offers-newlyweds-200-voucher-to-attend-marriage-counselling/story-fnii5v6w-1226808063646

23 January 2014

Federal Government offers newlyweds $200 voucher to attend marriage counselling

Newlyweds across Australia will be given a $200 voucher for marriage counselling from July 1, as part of a $20 million trial to strengthen relationships and avoid family breakdowns.

Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews confirmed the Federal Government’s $200 voucher scheme would proceed with a 12-month trial of 100,000 couples starting on July 1.

The Federal Government believes the move will strengthen relationships, create more happiness and stability in the home and create a better environment for children.

“The evidence shows that strong relationships between parents make a substantial difference to a child,” Mr Andrews said.

“Australian research also consistently finds that marriage and relationship education assists committed, married, engaged or cohabiting couples to move through the phases of their relationship with improved relationship skills, strengthening relationships for up to five y
ears.”

About 120,000 couples are married in Australia every year.

The $200 subsidy will be able to be used for marriage and relationship education and counselling, including parenting education, conflict resolution and financial management education.

While the focus is on couples who are married or intending to marry, couples who are in a committed relationship, including same-sex couples, will also be eligible for the payment.

Relationship counsellors have welcomed the scheme, saying it is important for couples to discuss their values ­before tying the knot.

Relationships Australia (Qld) counsellor Valerie Holden said the first year of marriage was a time of transition.

“There are some things you don’t even think about or are not aware of until you get married – your beliefs, yours idea about finances or children,” she said.

“You are also getting used to living with someone, so there are issues that pop up in that first year that you don’t anticipate. Having a place to talk about that is a good thing.”

Centacare co-ordinator of pre-marriage education services Jennifer Mason said many couples attended pre-marriage education sessions, often through their church, before marriage.

“Couples provide overwhelmingly positive feedback, they speak about the advantage of being able to dedicate time to their relationship,” she said.

“Programs like ours are really about couples taking time out from their daily life, having some dedicated time together and looking at improving their skills.

“Newlyweds face problems like all couples.”

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the Coalition’s priorities were “all wrong”.

“Marriage counselling is a nice idea,” he said. “But really, when you’re cutting the SchoolKids bonus, when you’re seeing child care workers’ promises being unfunded and child care workers not getting properly paid – where are the priorities of the Abbott Government?

“On one hand, they’ll take away from working parents and School Kids bonus, they’ll talk about a GP tax which means making it more expensive for families to take their kids to the doctor… so I think this is a government who doesn’t quite appreciate that cost of living can put pressure on marriages.”

Mr Shorten said the money could be better spent on maintaining election commitments.

“Perhaps the first thing they could do with this $20 million is say ‘alright we’re actually going to keep our promise that we made to voters before the election in order to get them to vote for us at the election,” he said.

“I would say to the Abbott Government, stick to your promises, don’t break your promises.”

Brisbane newlyweds Tegan, 28, and William, 32, Gray, were not convinced about the need for the new counselling subsidy.

“I’m sure it’s a good idea, but at the same time it puts a dampener on something you are excited about,” Mrs Gray said.

Mr Gray joked: “I don’t need a psychologist or a counsellor to tell me I should do what I’m told.”

The trial will be evaluated after a year.

COUNSELLING CHECKLIST

– Expectations of marriage

– Family influences

– Individual strengths and challenges

– ‘Stages’ of marriage

– Communication skills

– Conflict management strategies

– Developing and sustaining intimacy

– Sacrament of marriage and couple commitment

Source: Centacare Brisbane