Community Benefits
In June 1998, a Commonwealth of Australia, House of Representatives, Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs tabled its report To have and to hold - Strategies to strengthen marriage and relationships, Commonwealth of Australia: ISBN 0 644 52772 2.
That report concluded on page xiv in the summary and recommendations:
"The Committee concludes that marriage and relationship breakdown costs the Australian nation at least $3 billion each year. When all the indirect costs are included, the figure is possibly double. When the personal and emotional trauma involved is added to those figures, the cost to the nation is enormous.
In comparison, the Committee notes that the Commonwealth Government spends just $ 3.5 million per annum on preventative marriage and relationship education programs, and $2.05 million on parenting skills training. This is a 1000 fold difference. The imbalance is manifest and the Committee believes it requires correction."
This extract highlights the immense cost generated by relationship breakdown, a cost that as this report concludes, has been largely ignored. Sadly the overlooking of this cost has not been the monopoly of government.
To rest on the assumption that government is the only body in our community who should show the leadership and invest money to correct this problem, MENDS believes is naive and ultimately irresponsible.
Beyond the cost of total relationship failure is the cost of under-performing or unfulfilling relationships. Parties to unfulfilling relationships may not suffer to the extent of separated individuals, or incur the same degree of identifiable expense, but they do incur a cost, or missed opportunity cost, to our community.
Individuals hurting in unfulfilling relationships are more likely to engage in a whole range of addictive behaviours and substances as a way to compensate for their pain and/or lack of fulfilment.
