Australian family law going round the twist: teaching opportunities and challenges

Family law is an eclectic subject that covers a wide range of topics, including parenting disputes, financial matters and the formation and dissolution of marriage and other forms of legal relationships. This primarily involves domestic law, but there are also international family laws issued that affect the operation and interpretation of Australian family law. The subject is further complication in Australia due to the division of powers in regard to family law jurisdiction between federal and state laws. Moreover, there are unique characteristics of Australian family law, including the structure of the Australian family justice system and the status of Indigenous Australians in accessing family law. The depth and breadth of Australian family law raises pedagogical challenges, but also opportunities in innovating in this area of legal teaching. This chapter presents an overview of the teaching of family law topics in Australia. It is argued that Australian family law should be taught based on promoting law in context by teaching the doctrinal law found in statutes, cases and legal principles in its wider theoretical and policy context.