Queensland has again topped the list to be the divorce capital of Australia, with new Australian Bureau of Statistics data taking in the COVID pandemic for the first time.
There were 56,244 divorces granted in 2021, up 13.6 per cent from the previous year, figures published yesterday revealed.
It’s about 6500 to 7000 more than recent years, however the ABS warned to be cautious about the large rise, as the courts cleared a backlog of applications.
The largest increase was recorded in New South Wales, with 17,126 in 2021 compared with 14,023 in 2020 and 14,197 in 2019.
However, Queensland has the highest crude divorce rate in the nation – a long-standing title, with the gap widening further.
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There were 2.6 divorces granted per 1000 people in Queensland. That’s followed by WA at 2.2 (the national average), and 2.1 in NSW and SA.
The divorce rate in Queensland blew out somewhat, up from 2.3 in 2020 and 2019 – both significantly above the national averages.
Two waves of separation
Family mediator Stacey Turner said she saw two unique trends during COVID.
One occurred immediately during the initial lockdowns in 2020 and what she called the “second wave”.
Initially her clients wanted to move on quickly once the pandemic reached Australia – she said they had been sitting on the fence and realised life was fragile.
A hassle-free mediation pre-COVID could take between four to six weeks, but Ms Turner said when COVID hit, weeks were shaved off the process.
“I was mediating, virtually, around the clock morning and night,” she said.
“The way people worked together to resolve their matters, they worked far more collaboratively than I had experienced before.”
Then came what Ms Turner described as the “second wave” of separation, post lockdown.
“They’ve got greater mental health issues … you have economic implications, you’ve got a significant rental crisis and then you have a change of employment circumstances,” she said.
“It’s almost a perfect storm if you’re adding those things into an already crumbling relationship.”
Another factor Ms Turner believed contributed to the number of people divorcing in Queensland is interstate migration, with the state the most popular to move to.
“You’re moving away from your … family connections, your friendship groups and that by itself has an impact that I think people underestimate,” she said.
“Sometimes people move with the hope and expectation that they will make their relationship better when it’s already on shaky ground and it simply doesn’t translate to that.”
Women pressed for time in Queensland
Sociologist Professor Janeen Baxter, of the University of Queensland, is director of the Life Course Centre, which studies families over time.
As part of her reseach she’s analysed the Australian government’s Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) report, which surveys about 13,000 households every year.
When considering why Queensland’s divorce rate rose again, Prof. Baxter said Queensland women reported more time pressure and stress compared to other states in the 2021 HILDA report.
“We can’t pinpoint it down to COVID … there was also the period of bush fires and floods … but certainly there was an uptick in time pressure and stress for women in Queensland in 2021 that we weren’t seeing in other states,” she said.
The divorce rate across Australia in 2021 has returned to a level last recorded in 2011 and 2012, in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, the ABS data showed.
“If you go back the last 120 years looking at divorce data, there is the depression in the 1930s, WWI and WWII, you see rates of divorce are higher in those periods and then lower when the world is not experiencing war or major recession,” Prof. Baxter said.
“Definitely these broader societal factors do play out in terms of what’s happening within households at the micro level.”
Both Prof. Baxter and Ms Turner agreed that the ABS data doesn’t really show the true scope of relationship breakdowns, that is separations.
Divorces are generally only granted after a period of 12 months or more of separation, so the 2021 data would be taking in the first eight months of the pandemic in Australia.
As such, any breakdown of marriages during the pandemic may not be reflected in changes to the divorce rate for some years.
All states and territories, except Australian Capital Territory, recorded increased numbers of divorces granted compared with 2020.
ABS health and vital statistics director James Eynstone-Hinkins said the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia advised the increased number of divorces was in part due to administrative changes that increased finalisations last year.
“Most divorces granted in 2021 resulted from separations prior to the pandemic,” he said.
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