Family Law Act 1975

For the purposes of this Act, the following are the participating jurisdictions:

each referring State;

each Territory.

A State is a referring State if:

the Parliament of the State has referred, or refers, to the Parliament of the Commonwealth financial matters relating to the parties to de facto relationships arising out of the breakdown of those de facto relationships; and

the referral of the financial matters is made:

for the purposes of paragraph 51(xxxvii) of the Constitution; and

to the extent that the financial matters are not otherwise included in the legislative powers of the Parliament of the Commonwealth (otherwise than by a reference under paragraph 51(xxxvii) of the Constitution).

To avoid doubt, a State is not a referring State if its Parliament has referred, or refers, to the Parliament of the Commonwealth only a limited class of the matters referred to in paragraph (2)(a).

Western Australia is not a referring State. Part VIIIC applies if the Parliament of Western Australia has referred to the Parliament of the Commonwealth superannuation matters relating to de facto partners (see paragraphs 4(1)(a) and (b) of the Commonwealth Powers (De Facto Relationships) Act 2006 (WA)).

A State is a referring State even if a law of the State provides that a reference to the Commonwealth Parliament described in subsection (2) is to terminate in particular circumstances.

A State ceases to be a referring State if the State’s reference to the Commonwealth Parliament described in subsection (2) terminates.