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Over the past few years, the Commonwealth Government has reviewed a number of issues related to the circumstances of children on the breakdown of families, including shared parenting and child support.  The Commonwealth Government has already passed legislation regarding shared parental responsibility.  Changes to child support legislation are underway.

In 2005, a Ministerial Taskforce on Child Support released its report, In the Best Interests of Children.  As a result, the Commonwealth Government has already introduced a number of changes including:

• an increase in the minimum child support payment from $5.00 to $6.11, with payments linked to the Consumer Price Index;
• a reduction in the income cap for high income earners; and
• changes to the Newstart Allowance to include an additional payment of $16.50 per week where a child is spending at least 30% of his or her time with a parent on Newstart.

More substantial changes to the child support system required a number of legislative amendments, including changes to child support legislation, family tax benefit legislation and the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth).  In order to address the recommendations of the Ministerial Taskforce, the Commonwealth Government passed the Child Support Legislation Amendment (Reform of the Child Support Scheme  New Formula and other Measures) Act 2006 (Cth) (the Act).  This Act received Royal Assent on 6 December 2006.

The legislative amendments to the Child Support Scheme are intended to ensure that not only do parents share parental responsibility, they also share the cost of raising children.  To this end the Act introduced a number of changes including:

• changes to the Child Support Scheme maintenance formula;
• the ability to seek a review of decisions made under the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 (Cth) by the Social Security Appeals Tribunal; and
• modifications to the Family Tax Benefit income test for maintenance income.

Changes introduced by the legislation come into effect in two stages.  The first stage of amendments commenced on 1 January 2007.  The second stage will come into effect on 1 July 2008.

SSAT

One of the major amendments which commenced on 1 January 2007 related to the ability of the Social Security Appeals Tribunal (SSAT) to review child support decisions.  Previously, if a carer or liable parent disagreed with a decision of the Child Support Registrar on an assessment or reassessment of support, that carer or parent could seek a review of the decision through the Child Support Agency's internal objection procedures.  If the internal review did not produce a favourable result, the only alternative involved making an application to the court to seek a review of the assessment.  Such applications tended to be expensive and increase the animosity between the parties.

Now the SSAT can engage in an independent review of child support decisions.  It is anticipated that this review mechanism will be inexpensive, informal, quick and fair.  A parent or carer can seek a review of the Child Support Registrar's decision by the SSAT.  This new process is also designed to be less adversarial in order to reduce tensions between separating parents.

The new SSAT process does not apply to all types of applications.  The Federal Magistrates Court or the Family Court are responsible for hearing applications for:

• a declaration of parentage;
• termination of child support agreements;
• lump sum child support applications; and
• urgent applications for child support before an administrative assessment has taken place.

Private Enforcement Action

There have been changes to enhance the enforcement regime under the legislation.  Additional amendments to the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 and the Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1989 allow the payee to take private enforcement action in relation to child support debts, while allowing the Registrar to undertake other enforcement action at the same time to continue collecting the child support on behalf of the carer parent.

Backdating Changes of Assessment

The Act provides for changes to the backdating of assessments and to the time limits in respect of the period the assessment can be backdated.  Amendments to the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 provide that where special circumstances exist, the Registrar may depart from the administrative assessment.  This could potentially allow a parent who is in arrears to apply for a change of assessment for the period the parent was in arrears.  In addition, this could also be used to create a child support debt retrospectively.  In the event that the Registrar backdates a child support assessment, it is possible to object and seek a review of this decision.

Conclusion

The Commonwealth Government is pursuing a series of initiatives which will result in substantial changes to the child support scheme.