Western Australia: a leap into the unknown

Now that it appears that the WA Nationals are supporting the Liberals, what now for family law in the West?

There are two issues which may now be up in the air:

1. The national de facto reforms

Despite the coalition senators on the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee recommending also that the changes come through quickly, WA has always gone by the beat of a different drum. The Commonwealth has already rejected the narrow referral of power from WA, and given that Colin Barnett has said that he will not be bullied by the Commonwealth about closing any WA school, it wouldn’t be surprising if WA decides to take a different approach to the de facto law reforms, and stymie much needed national reform.

2. Surrogacy

Despite former Attorney Phillip Ruddock calling for uniform surrogacy laws, and despite Labor getting surrogacy through WA’s Upper House (and then lapsing because of the election) watch this space to see if WA does anything about surrogacy now, and if so, what it might be.