Family Law Amendment Act 2023: How the 2024 Changes Affect Parenting Orders in Australia

The Family Law Amendment Act 2023 is the biggest reform to Australian parenting law in over a decade. Most of its parenting provisions took effect on 6 May 2024, and they fundamentally change how courts decide who a child should live with. If you're a grandparent or relative carer, these changes matter — several of them work directly in your favour.

What Changed

The presumption of equal shared parental responsibility is gone. Under the old law, section 61DA created a presumption that both parents should share parental responsibility equally. Courts had to start from that assumption and then test whether it was in the child's best interests. For grandparents, this presumption was a hurdle — it tilted the starting point toward parents, even when a grandparent had been the child's primary carer for years.

That presumption has been repealed. Courts now start fresh, with no default position in favour of either parent or any other party.

The mandatory "equal time" and "substantial and significant time" consideration is repealed. The old section 65DAA required courts to consider whether the child should spend equal time, or at least substantial time, with each parent — creating a practical bias toward 50/50 arrangements. That requirement no longer exists.

The best interests test has been simplified. The new section 60CC replaces the old two-tier system (primary and additional considerations) with a single, non-hierarchical list of core factors. The court considers:

1. What arrangements promote the safety of the child and each person caring for them — including safety from family violence, abuse and neglect
2. The child's views, taking into account their maturity and understanding
3. The child's developmental, psychological, emotional and cultural needs
4. The benefit of the child having a meaningful relationship with each parent and other significant people
5. Anything else the court considers relevant

Safety is listed first and carries significant weight. For grandparent applications where a parent can't care for the child due to addiction, violence, imprisonment or illness, the reformed framework focuses the court's attention on where the child is actually safe.

Section 65DAAA codifies the rule against re-litigation. To vary final parenting orders, an applicant must now show a "significant change in circumstances" before the court will reopen the case. This protects grandparents who already hold orders — a parent can't keep coming back to court without clearing this threshold first.

Independent Children's Lawyers must now meet the child. Under the new section 68LA, an ICL must meet directly with the child and provide them an opportunity to express their views (with limited exceptions for very young children or where meeting would cause harm). This gives children a stronger voice in proceedings.

What This Means for Grandparents

The practical effect is that the court now looks at the child's actual circumstances rather than starting from a parent-first presumption. If you've been caring for a grandchild and providing stability, safety and continuity, the reformed test asks whether disrupting that arrangement would be in the child's best interests — not whether equal time with parents should be the default.

Guides and templates published before May 2024 that instruct you to address equal shared parental responsibility in your affidavit may describe repealed provisions. Affidavits drafted around those provisions can misstate the current framework and should be updated before filing.

What Didn't Change

Standing for grandparents under section 65C(ba) is unchanged. The court fee structure is unchanged. The requirement for Family Dispute Resolution and a section 60I certificate before filing is unchanged. The consent orders pathway is unchanged.

The Parenting Orders for Grandparents and Relatives guide reflects the current law as of the May 2024 reforms, including the simplified section 60CC factors and the new variation threshold under section 65DAAA.

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