Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'll say at the outset that we will be supporting this non-controversial bill and note the urgent nature of it in relation to the Child Support (Assessment) Act. We support the government in moving quickly to address concerns around this child support scheme operating as it has always been intended and the doubt cast on that as a result of a Federal Court decision following an AAT decision. In particular, we note that Services Australia identified the government concerns that the 2018 amendments to the child support and family assistance legislation were at risk, if not already, of not operating as intended, due to unclear drafting.

The 2018 amendments had the unintentional consequence of limiting the circumstances in which interim period assessments can apply. All those in the child support agency and those who are subject to these orders understand the significant role that the interim periods play in Australia's child support scheme. In essence, these interim period arrangements encourage compliance with written care arrangements and prevent parents who withhold care of a child from benefiting through higher child support and family tax benefit payments than they should be receiving. In February this year, the Federal Court confirmed that the 2018 amendments did not operate as intended, and that has therefore led to the urgent legislative change.

As I said, we will support the changes to ensure that the act continues to operate in the way that has been intended and to ultimately ensure that no benefit accrues to a party that's subject to child support arrangements but is not adhering to the requirements of those written and otherwise agreed arrangements. That plays an important role in ensuring, as far as humanly possible, adherence to child support arrangements that can often occur against the backdrop of significant rancour between parties.

These interim period arrangements are an important feature of the act, and we therefore provide our unequivocal support to these very technical amendments. We note they don't have a financial impact. This is ultimately just ensuring that the law, as it has always been intended to apply, continues to do so in light of the drafting concerns and, of course, in light of the recent court decisions that emphasised and highlighted the hole that potentially, if not in practice, now exists.

The coalition, in that sense, wholeheartedly supports the amendments and will provide swift passage through this House.

Debate adjourned.

Ordered that the resumption of the debate be made an order of the day for a later hour.