Australia’s Child Support System facilitates Economic Abuse of Women

Women’s Legal Services Australia‘s Executive Officer, Lara Freidin, says fathers take “extraordinary measures” to reduce their taxable incomes and therefore payments for their children’s upkeep

“Non-payment, underpayment and delayed payment of child support must be nationally recognised as a form of economic abuse that has long-lasting impacts on women and children, entrenching their ongoing financial disadvantage” Freidin said.

The Federal Government has set up an expert panel and a stakeholder consultation group to review the formula used to calculate child support payments. It is also reviewing compliance to ensure income accuracy and better collection and enforcement measures, while $5.1m will be spent over five years to examine non-compliance, how to help parents if private arrangements break down and whether the formula reflects the costs of raising children in Australia.

Read the full news story from ‘The Guardian’ via https://bit.ly/4b2ZFow and view WLSA’s own research report into the non-payment of child support, as a form of economic abuse of Australian women, via https://bit.ly/4dwYOhu