Call them political marriages of convenience or necessity, but the power-sharing arrangements between Labor and the Greens can end just as messily as any failed personal union.
They start off with the best intentions, enjoy a honeymoon, hit the inevitable rocky patches before the bust-up everyone predicted eventuates.
Then the recriminations begin, generally just before another election.
Fortunately, there are no kids to worry about - just the disillusioned supporters of both parties.
Intriguingly the most recent marriages have been between female Labor leaders and their male Greens counterparts.
Lara Giddings wooed Nick McKim after the 2010 state election in which Labor and Liberal won 10 seats each in the 25 seat assembly.
The subsequent marriage came with a dowry of two cabinet seats for the Greens.
A few months later, Julia Gillard was signing on the dotted line with Bob Brown, the openly gay leader of the Australian Greens, to guarantee parliamentary support for her minority government.
Katy Gallagher and Shane Rattenbury turned a de-facto political relationship from the 2008 ACT election into a full-blown marriage after the 2012 election produced a tie between Labor and the Liberals.
Unlike their federal and Tasmanian colleagues, Gallagher and Rattenbury remain a happy couple.
Giddings abruptly, some say cynically, ended the marriage with McKim's Greens in January, ahead of calling an election.
It had become clear Labor supporters wanted to end the power-sharing deal and a bar on any anything similar in the future, she said in justifying the split.
Unsurprisingly, a skeptical Will Hodgman - widely tipped to become Liberal premier at the March election - described the split as a "fake divorce".
A year ago, it was the Greens ending a less formal power-sharing agreement with federal Labor when leader Christine Milne declared the affair over.
The wave of ill-feeling, however, didn't wash down from Capital Hill to the territory's own legislature.
The secret to a long-lasting political relationship, Gallagher and Rattenbury separately tell AAP, is being able to "agree to disagree" and having formal mechanisms to handle differences.
"It's a relationship which requires day-to-day management and investment if we're going to make it work," Gallagher says.
The pair signed an agreement that included Rattenbury becoming a minister in the Labor cabinet.
While he's subject to the same cabinet confidentiality rules as all ministers, he isn't bound by cabinet solidarity provided he declares matters which are of serious concern to him.
While that arrangement is similar to the Tasmanian pre-nup, the ACT version contains a specific clause about dispute resolution.
Rattenbury was given a range of meaty portfolios including responsibility for the territory's only prison, public housing and local-council-type services.
Gallagher anticipated more problems in the first year than have eventuated and contrary to expectations, she feels things have gone smoothly, even though it's taken a bit of effort.
The pair talk about any emerging problems and try to resolve them.
The formula is working publicly too because there are no outward signs of division.
Rattenbury says the evolution of the ACT agreement from those in other states gave it a very strong framework.
"I'm free to come out of cabinet and vote my way and functioning government goes on, which is what the community ultimately wants," he says.
He acknowledges there are times when his party's view does not always prevail because of the nature of any parliamentary system.
"But what we do have is the opportunity to deliver some of those larger items as well as have a day-to-day influence on cabinet decisions."
Neither Rattenbury or Gallagher sees looming catastrophes that could split their relationship.
Gallagher notes Canberra is a very different community to Tasmania, with nothing like the divisive forestry issue to come between the parties.
And it also helps she regards Rattenbury as a reasonable person.
"He doesn't come and thump the table and say I demand this or I'm walking off," Gallagher said.
"And I don't go to him and behave in the same way."
Their experiences would be just as effective for maintaining real marriages as well as political ones.
