Australians continue to value family life

Jul 22, 2010, 7:55 GMT

Sydney - Conservative Tony Abbott is alone among the leaders of Australia's three political parties in being married with children.

The Greens are led by gay singleton Bob Brown. Prime Minister Julia Gillard, the Labor leader, is childless and for the past few years has been living with boyfriend Tim Mathieson.

It's all seems frightfully modern.

As Gillard remarked: 'Obviously, we live in an age when there are all sorts of relationships which aren't marriages. I'm in a committed relationship of that nature myself with my partner, Tim.'

But, hang on, is it really true that nuclear families like the Abbotts are becoming as quaint as phone boxes?

Figures from the Australian Institute of Family Studies show that households with mum, dad and the kids are the great survivors. A commanding 72 per cent of households with at least one child under 18 are standard intact families.

Just 3 per cent are 'blended' families, with both the male and female adults bringing children from previous relationships. Four per cent were step-families (in which just one partner has offspring from a previous relationship) and 3 per cent were headed by single men.

After the typical nuclear families, single-mother families comprised the next largest group, with 17 per cent of the total.

'In the early eighties some people wondered whether the family would actually survive,' institute director Alan Hayes said.

The advent of no-fault divorce in 1976 had bumped up the rate of marital splits to 40 per cent and the notion of 'living in sin' had lost its currency. Thirty years ago, a quarter of couples lived together before their wedding, a rate that has climbed to over three-quarters of couples today.

Professor Hayes said that what has become acceptable is far more varied than it was. For example, over a third of children are conceived out of wedlock now compared with less than 5 per cent in 1960.

Parenthood starts later in life, couples have fewer children and the stay-at-home mum is the exception.

But, said Hayes, 'despite these changes, the family unit has thrived and continues to play a central role in shaping the health and wellbeing of all immediate family members.'

Cory Bernardi, a member of Abbott's Liberal Party, would like to turn back the clock. He is against the blithe acceptance of Prime Minister Gillard being in a de facto relationship.

Describing marriage between a man and a woman as the 'gold standard' in relationships, Bernardi argues that 'there are consequences that impact others and society as a whole' when couples opt for a baser metal.