Rod Kemp (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for the Arts and Sport) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Mason for what is indeed a very important question. I think any member or senator in this parliament knows the importance of this issue to the wider community. The government is very pleased to announce an $850 million major overhaul of the Child Support Scheme to deliver a system that acts in the best interests of children. The government has accepted the vast majority of recommendations made by the ministerial task force on child support headed by Professor Patrick Parkinson. As many senators will know, the scheme aims to reduce conflict between separated parents and encourage shared parenting by introducing a system that is fairer and puts the needs of children first. A new formula will be introduced which reflects the true costs of children, shares the costs between parents based on their respective incomes and better balances the needs of first and second families. There will be a greater focus on ensuring non-resident parents support their children and on improved administration and accountability of the Child Support Agency.

These reforms will potentially effect around 1.4 million parents and, more importantly, 1.1 million children. The reforms require a rewriting of the legislation, rebuilding the IT systems, significant information gathering from parents and an alignment of the formula with the start of the financial year. Therefore, the government will be introducing the measures in a three-phase approach. From 1 July 2006 the Australian government will, among other things, increase the minimum payment to ensure child support payments keep pace with inflation, strengthen the Child Support Agency’s capacity to ensure nonresident parents pay their child support payments in full and on time, and recognise nonresident parents on Newstart and related payments who have contact with their children by paying them a higher rate.

In the second stage, from January 2007, the Australian government will, among other things, introduce independent review of all Child Support Agency decisions by the Social Security Appeals Tribunal to improve accountability and transparency, broaden the powers of the courts to ensure that child support obligations are met and strengthen the relationship between the courts and the child support scheme, making the process easier and more responsive to parents’ needs. In the third stage, from July 2008, the Australian government will introduce a new child support formula that will change the way child support payments are calculated to ensure fairer assessments, reflect the cost of children, encourage shared parenting and recognise the cost of contact. It will also ensure that a minimum payment is made for each child support family.

There is a range of other very important initiatives. I encourage those interested to go to the relevant website and read what has been put down by the government. This is a very important initiative. This is an area where the ALP noticeably over the years failed when in government to take any real action. It had its own reports and most of those were shelved when Labor was in government. Labor has never had a policy in this area and this government is now moving.