Greens Set To Fight Abbott’s “Divorce Tax”

The Greens are set to fight against the Abbott Government’s plans to raise fees for divorce applications dubbing the increases a “Divorce Tax”.

The Abbott Government seek to increase court application fees for people who are seeking a divorce. With the Abbott Government’s plans to increase the fees means applications cost will rise from $845 to $1195.

Legal centres around the country have said the increase will delay processes and especially for victims of domestic violence who are applying for divorce this will have a detrimental effect making it harder from them to obtain a divorce. The Australian Greens have said they will introduce a disallowance motion next week to stop the increase in fees.

Senator Penny Wright, Greens spokesperson for Legal Affairs, said today “”It is completely inappropriate to use family breakdown as a cash cow for the government,”

“It is a blatant revenue-raising measure from the Abbott Government. Divorce applications are very straightforward and usually only take 10 minutes each – it is not these cases that are soaking up the court’s resources.