Derek McDowell (Labour)

That is true. And in the case of second marriages there may be children who are outside the marriage. This is recognised in the Constitution. Their parents may want, when entering a marriage, to keep their assets available for their children and there may be good reasons for that. In some cases I can imagine it would lead to disharmony in a family if the main asset, for example a farm, was to go into a common pool while there were already 17 and 18 year old children farming it in the expectation they might succeed to it. We must consider many issues.

I thank the Senators for raising the issue. As the Law Reform Commission is not in a position to do an urgent report on this matter, the Government amendment is offered to make rapid progress on this issue and to enable the Houses to deal with it. It will not go away. The absence of pre-nuptial agreements is a social issue. Different demographic patterns, people marrying later in life with more assets, re-marriages and dependent children of the partners of marriages are phenomena of the early 21st century. They were not phenomena of the 1920s and 1930s when much of our pre-divorce jurisprudence emerged. I urge Senators to adopt the Government amendment as the fair way forward on this issue. I reiterate my thanks to the Members for the way this matter has been raised and dealt with.