Bazz,
A small gene pool could be a problem, particularly for small groups or religious sects that practice polygamy.

There has been concern that the diminishing number of sperm donors could result in a small gene pool for women receiving IVF. There was the case of two women living across the street from each other in the US, and they eventually discovered that they both had children from the same father through IVF.

Similarly, a small religious sect practicing polygamy would have a small gene pool.

Vanna,

Sometimes young children are told that babies come to the world through marriage, but as an adult you know that only in fairy-tales do babies come as a result of the act of some priest or celebrant producing a piece of paper. Polygamy is no exception.

"Similarly, a small religious sect practicing polygamy would have a small gene pool"

So what? it's their problem. Perhaps they will not be as successful in a Darwinian sense, but if they are happy with their religious experience, who are you to stand in their way?

Or if you are concerned about the public purse, then note that religious sects are less likely to call on external medical services or on external education and also that legally-married polygamous families, due to having more members, are less likely to pass asset/income tests to be eligible for a pension.

But as I mentioned above, I am not in favour of the state conducting/approving polygamous marriages, or gay marriages, or marriages at all. That should remain in private-domain.

Polygamy is not one person sleeping around hopping from house to house - it is a committed relationship. For example a Muslim must prove he can support any extra wives before the church will allow him to take more wives.
There will always be people who exploit the system - it's just the way it is, and it isn't just Polygamists - you are making a blanket assumption.

I reject your assumption or point blank assertion that I made an assumption or point blank claim.

Please give me an answer to the following Tastiger.

Why, in Australia, has research analysis concluded that most Austrlian Polygamists have lied to their partners over past years?

Why have I financially supported two Muslim families overseas as a result of their poor dire financial situation ie numerous children in each of those families, dozens of children with the same father?

Why bother marrying both women and not just live together as a community? Why bother with a piece of paper or breaking the Australian law that is legislated for a good many reasons?

weareunique
If you can point me to the statistics that show most Australian Polygamists have lied to their partners - that is Polygamy in the sense of the word and I mean literal meaning from the Oxford Dictionary:-

polygamy(pol¦yg|amy)
noun
*the practice or custom of having more than one wife or husband at the same time.
Derivatives
polygamist

I will be more than happy to discuss it after seeing where these figures are derived from as my statements are based on personal experience.

As to your Muslim issue that it something you would have to discuss with Centrelink as they have already ruled.
Centrelink general manager Hank Jongen admitted the agency was making payments to people in multiple-couple relationships.

"There's nothing preventing them from being in more than one 'member of a couple' relationship at a time," he said. "In these cases, Centrelink pays each person the relevant income-tested payment at the partnered rate."
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/growing-number-of-muslim-men-and-multiple-wives-exploiting-loophoole-for-taxpayer-handouts/story-e6frf7jo-1225837150560

"Why bother marrying both women and not just live together as a community? Why bother with a piece of paper or breaking the Australian law that is legislated for a good many reasons?"

I am still not certain what those good many reasons are and why should not we have the same rights to that piece of paper as "normal" folk? - that way there would not be anyway to rort the system, Centrelink or Taxation wise as our relationship would be recognised lawfully.

Tastiger:

My question posed to you was the following [not a statistics based question]:

"Why, in Australia, has research analysis concluded that most Austrlian Polygamists have lied to their partners over past years"?

I have known many Polygamists as stated in my previous posts along with having read a great deal of literature on Polygamy within Australia. Many Australian Polygamists through our generations have lied to their spouses and previous spouses, many moving from state to state.

Most to gain financially from each situation.

You are coming from the aspect of a Polygamist involved in a long term stable open honest relationship with two people.

My comments are targetted at the individual who has married on many occasions not divorcing, changing their names constantly unlawfully, and moving on to their next partners, deliberately lying about their true or latest identities and pasts. Most lie about the identities of their childrens parents.

A polygamist breaking Australian law. Laws put in place to safeguard children and taxpayers.

Below are a couple of latest studies conducted about the effects of Polygamy in families both here and in Malaysia Tastiger.

As studies are conducted and concluding, most outcomes describe mostly negative impacts upon both children and mothers leading polygamous lives.

A 2010/11 Malaysian Study on Polygamy for your info:

http://www.google.com.au/url?q=http://polygamy411.com/2010/01/17/a-normal-polygamous-family-a-malaysian-study/&sa=U&ei=MIVtTbGMJoSGuQP3ncDaBA&ved=0CA4QFjAA&usg=AFQjCNGOap6ameE5zcquiVX7pRndaZJU4g

One Australian social study regarding the negatives for families practicing polygamous relationships.

http://www.google.com.au/url?q=http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/MurUEJL/2005/2.html&sa=U&ei=N4NtTfD9LJCmvgPXrL23BA&ved=0CCEQFjAI&usg=AFQjCNGUQr23nTL4kvWLqhlcckUPEHplnA

Polygamy is not legal; moreover, bigamy (as it is known) is a crime - only the first marriage entered into will be acknowledged. Despite the customary Australian practice of acknowledging marriages legally entered into in other nations, polygamy is not acknowledged save where divorce, property settlement and various types of court orders are concerned (provided under section 6 of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth)). In a similar vein, a new marriage cannot begin until the previous one is formally terminated - in the case of Schmidt 1976 a marriage was declared void as it had taken place before the termination of its predecessor.

This is the type of Polygamy I am referring to Tastiger as opposed to a person living with two spouses in a relationship. Having stated that, Polygamy will not be legalised in Australia's immediate future for validated reasons regarding English/Australian laws pertaining to the "Marriage Act" - the Union between Man and Wife, according to Robert McLelland A/G's.