Polygamy in Australia is illegal. Polygamy is legal in many African, Asian and Middle Eastern countries, and usually involves more than one wife. Polygamy is also common in certain religious groups in other countries, such as Mormons in the United States.
By definition you cannot have a polygamous marriage in Australia without being married to two people at once, which would make you guilty of the criminal offence of bigamy. Thus, polygamy in Australia is not legal.
In New South Wales, section 92 of the Crimes Act 1900 makes it an offence punishable by a maximum penalty of seven years' imprisonment to marry a person whilst already married to another.
To qualify for a partner visa in Australia you need to be married to your Australian partner, or in a de facto relationship with them. Under Australian law, you can't be married to two different people at the same time.
Polyamory is legal in Australia as opposed to polygamy. A polygamous person has multiple spouses while a polyamorous has multiple unmarried partners. According to the Marriage Act 1961, polygamy (or bigamy) is a punishable offence that carries a sentence of up to 5 years.
“The prevalence right now of young people is somewhere around 4-5 per cent of people might be involved in a polyamorous relationship, and about 20 per cent have probably tried one.” Anne Miles, a polyamorist for 19 years, says there's still a fair bit of prejudice around.
There aren't a lot of stats available for polyamory in Australia, but 2014 research appearing in CSIRO Publishing found 1 per cent of 5,323 respondents were in an "open relationship".
Is a polyamorous wedding legal? In short, no. Most places in the world do not permit a legally recognized marriage union between more than two people (often a man and a woman). There are some places in the world where a man can marry more than one woman, but a woman can't have multiple spouses.
The legal status of polygamy varies widely around the world. Polygyny is legal in 58 out of nearly 200 sovereign states, the vast majority of them being Muslim-majority countries. Some countries that permit polygamy have restrictions, such as requiring the first wife to give her consent.
A marriage will not be valid if the parties are in a 'prohibited relationship' (s 23B(1)(b) Marriage Act). A prohibited relationship is one between a brother and sister (including half-blood) or between a person and an ancestor (i.e. a parent or grandparent) or descendant (i.e. a child or grandchild).
The short answer to the headline question is yes, you can marry your second cousin in Australia. Some people may be surprised that you can marry your first cousin! In fact, it may shock many people that in Australia there are quite a number of your relatives whom it is legal for you to marry.
(“Bigamy” is the act of marrying someone while still legally married to another person, and it is usually the term used in laws against plural marriage. Polygamy is illegal because bigamy is. The words “bigamy” and “polygamy”—and their derivatives—are sometimes used interchangeably.)
Some countries that have outlawed polygamy may still recognize polygamous marriages from other countries. For example, Sweden recognizes polygamous marriages performed abroad. Switzerland outlawed polygamy, but polygamous marriage conducted in another country is handled on a case-by-case basis.
The law requires that you and your former partner, who may be of the same or opposite sex, had a relationship as a couple living together on a genuine domestic basis. However, your relationship is not a de facto relationship if you were legally married to one another or if you are related by family.
Only about 2% of the global population lives in polygamous households, and in the vast majority of countries, that share is under 0.5%.
If a woman in a multiple marriage situation finds herself mistreated or treated unjustly, she has a right to seek divorce from her husband. It is also permissible for a woman to make this as a condition of marriage that her husband will not take another wife during his marriage to her.
Polyandry is a form of polygamy in which a woman takes two or more husbands at the same time. For example, fraternal polyandry is practiced among Tibetans in Nepal, parts of China and part of northern India, in which two or more brothers are married to the same wife, with the wife having equal “sexual access” to them.
It is not obligatory for the husband, if he wants to take a second wife, to have the consent of his first wife, but it is good manners and kindness to deal with her in such a manner that will minimize the hurt feelings such thing might produce.
Meet the polyamorous throuple with a married couple and their girlfriend.
For example, in some Islamic, Hindu, and even Christian countries, polygamy is a normal practice or is otherwise tolerated. Some Native American, Indigenous Australian, and Mongolian peoples practice “group marriage,” where the nuclear family consists of multiple husbands and multiple wives.
It's clear that more and more people are rejecting social conventions around love and relationships and embodying a more fluid approach to dating – and that includes openly polyamorous celebs like Willow Smith and Bella Thorne, as well as rumoured polyamorous celebs like Rita Ora, Taika Waititi and Tessa Thompson.
Men 21% versus women 13% are more likely to accept polyamory lifestyle. Research conducted with more than 3,000 Americans found approximately 11% of the sample had been in a polyamorous relationship at some point in time. Polyamory is a growing group within the African American community.
Put simply, we have not biologically evolved past our natural desire to have multiple sexual partners, we simply use social tools to repress this desire. Upwards of 80 per cent of early human societies were polygamous, with many previously isolated groups having been documented as practising polyamory.