Family Law Amendment Act 2023: How Australia's Parenting Laws Changed

What Changed on 6 May 2024

The Family Law Amendment Act 2023 — which commenced on 6 May 2024 — represents the most significant overhaul of Australian parenting law in two decades. The central change: the statutory presumption of "equal shared parental responsibility" has been completely repealed. Courts are no longer required to start from a default position of joint decision-making, and the rigid statutory pathway that funnelled judges toward equal-time or substantial-and-significant-time arrangements no longer exists.

For separating parents in Queensland and across Australia, this means parenting arrangements are now built entirely around each child's individual circumstances rather than squeezed into a formulaic framework.

The Old Framework — And Why It Was Scrapped

Under the pre-May 2024 law, the Family Law Act 1975 contained a presumption that equal shared parental responsibility was in the child's best interests. Unless a parent could rebut this presumption — typically by proving family violence or child abuse — the court was legally bound to follow a rigid sequence: first consider ordering equal time with each parent, and only if that was impracticable or not in the child's best interests, then consider "substantial and significant time."

This framework created a widespread misunderstanding among separating parents. Many believed they had an automatic legal right to a 50/50 time split. In practice, the presumption shaped negotiations, mediation outcomes, and consent orders in ways that sometimes prioritised parental entitlement over child safety.

The Australian Law Reform Commission recommended abolishing the presumption after extensive consultation, and Parliament acted through the Family Law Amendment Act 2023.

The New Best-Interests Framework Under Section 60CC

The 2023 amendments replaced the old two-tiered list of "primary" and "additional" considerations with a streamlined, non-hierarchical set of six factors under Section 60CC(2). No single factor automatically outweighs another — the court weighs each according to the evidence:

1. Safety — what arrangements promote the safety of the child and each person who has care of the child (this includes assessing risk of family violence to both children and caregivers)
2. The child's views — any views expressed by the child, weighted by their age, maturity, and whether the views are genuinely their own
3. Developmental needs — the child's developmental, psychological, emotional, and cultural needs
4. Capacity of each caregiver — each parent's practical ability to provide for those needs
5. Relationships — the benefit of maintaining meaningful relationships with both parents, siblings, grandparents, and other significant people, provided this is safe
6. Any other relevant circumstance — a catch-all for factors like extreme geographic distance between homes or sibling dependency

Safety is listed first for a reason. The reforms elevated the protection of children and caregivers from family violence to a paramount starting point, rather than treating it as a rebuttal to a presumption of shared responsibility.

What the Reforms Mean for Decision-Making

The old presumption often led courts to order joint decision-making by default. Under the new framework, the court makes no assumptions. It can order:

• Joint decision-making across all major long-term issues (education, health, religion, name changes)
• Sole decision-making for one parent across all issues
• Split decision-making — one parent decides on education, the other on health, for example

The choice depends entirely on the evidence about each parent's capacity and the family's specific circumstances. If parents cannot cooperate on major decisions — which is common in high-conflict separations — the court is now more willing to assign sole decision-making without requiring the kind of extreme evidence the old framework demanded.

What the Reforms Mean for Time Arrangements

The removal of the mandatory equal-time and substantial-time considerations gives courts and mediators much greater flexibility. Parenting schedules can now be designed around the child's actual routine, school commitments, developmental stage, and attachment patterns rather than being reverse-engineered from a numerical target.

This does not mean 50/50 arrangements are off the table. Many parents still negotiate shared-care schedules — 2-2-3 rotations, alternating weeks, or 3-4-4-3 plans. The difference is that these arrangements are chosen because they suit the specific child, not because a statutory presumption steered everyone toward them.

The 2024 Act: Additional Divorce Procedure Changes

A separate set of reforms under the Family Law Amendment Act 2024 (commencing 10 June 2025) simplified the divorce process itself:

• The two-year counselling rule is abolished. Couples married less than two years no longer need to attend mandatory relationship counselling before filing for divorce.
• Court appearances are eliminated for most divorces. Physical or telephone attendance at a divorce hearing is no longer required, even for sole applications where children under 18 are involved. The court reviews written arrangements for the children on the papers.

These procedural changes reduce administrative burden but do not affect the substantive parenting law — the Section 60CC best-interests framework governs all parenting decisions regardless of when or how the divorce itself is processed.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Rights

The 2023 amendments strengthened the standalone requirement under Section 60CC(3) for courts to consider the right of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children to connect with their culture, country, and community. This includes evaluating each parent's commitment to facilitating cultural education, language preservation, and participation in community events and ceremonies.

How This Affects Your Parenting Plan or Consent Orders

If you are drafting a parenting plan or filing for consent orders in Queensland, these reforms shape both the substance and the framing of your agreement. The Queensland Child Custody and Parenting Plan Guide is built around the post-May 2024 framework — using the correct modern terminology ("parental responsibility" and "care arrangements" rather than "custody" and "visitation") and structuring parenting schedules around the six Section 60CC factors rather than the abolished equal-time presumption.

Any parenting order made before 6 May 2024 remains valid and enforceable. The new framework applies when those orders come up for variation or when new applications are filed.

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