Peter Andren (Calare, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I only have a few concluding remarks to make on the Child Support Legislation Amendment (Reform of the Child Support Scheme—Initial Measures) Bill 2006. As I was saying prior to question time, the two words that I can recall and have seen over the last decade in relation to child support matters would be anger and frustration—on both sides of the equation, from what we once called the custodial and the non-custodial parents almost equally. That anger and frustration was around the issue of the formula that has been used to determine the payments. In the eyes of the nonresidential parents, it is about the proper use of that money. Anger and frustration from residential parents comes from the non-payment ruses that many partners get up to, and indeed the use of devices such as apprehended violence orders to deny access to parents, legitimate access in many cases that I have seen.

Over that period we have seen some welcome reforms. We are seeing more in the bill today and we will see others in the coming months. Amongst that future legislation are some cuts in child support for resident parents. But those will be balanced by the elimination of things like the requirement to split family tax benefits with former partners, unless the care is shared almost equally. In addition, under the proposed legislation that we are yet to consider, for those non- or minimal-paying parents who arrange their financial affairs so they can ostentatiously drive their Mercedes around town or have a holiday home but who do not pay themselves a wage—I have seen and heard of plenty of circumstances like that—a wage will be deemed and that person will be regarded as having earned income.

Finally, while I must commend the Child Support Agency staff with whom my office deals, with whom I have contact, I welcome the improved training and increased staffing promised in these changes, along with the more intensive case management for difficult cases. Communication between the Child Support Agency and clients at so stressful a time is absolutely essential once the communication between parents has often irretrievably broken down. With those words I commend this bill to the House.

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