Attorney General Daryl Williams has been accused of deliberately misleading a Government Senator over plans to jail parents who fall behind in child-support payments.
Prominent advocacy group, the Men’s Rights Agency, claimed yesterday Mr Williams was wrong when he said tough new jailing provisions planned for maintenance defaulters would apply only to those with court orders predating the Child Support Agency.
The Senate has rejected most of the changes contained in the child support legislation that would benefit paying parents.
The Child Support Amendment Bill (No 2) 2000 was to provide for a reduction in child support, by acknowledging that there is a cost involved in caring for children during contact visits. A 2 and 3 percent reduction in the formula amount was envisaged for non-custodial parents who have between 10 – 19%, and 20 – 29% contact time, respectively.
Since the long-awaited, disappointing changes to child support were accepted by the Senate (December 1998) we have been inundated with queries, especially for the start dates.
Here they are, together with a brief summary of the changes.
CSA expects most of the items to come into affect on 1st July 1999, providing legislative procedures are completed on time.
SEVEN OUT OF TEN RESPONDENTS SAY IT IS OK TO WITHHOLD CHILD SUPPORT WHEN ACCESS IS DENIED! The Toronto Globe and Mail today (May 25,
The recent minimal changes to child support legislation announced by Senator Jocelyn Newman on 30th September 1997, were put to Parliament for a 2nd reading
The Prime Minister, John Howard said during a Cairns radio interview that the Government MIGHT consider new measures for the child support scheme in next month’s budget . “Fathers force PM to review child support”.
Tony Smith MP 1998 – There is no area of the public service that is growing at a faster rate than the area of the Child Support Agency. It has produced more heartache, more conflict, severed more families, driven more people to suicide, provoked more people to despair, alienated more children from their parents, and provoked more anguish amongst grandparents, than any other area of public service.
Mr CAMPBELL (Kalgoorlie) (12.10 p.m.)–debating CSA legislattion …..That is exactly the problem because this legislation was compiled by intellectual pygmies. The legislation is a disaster. If people get up in this place and say they support the legislation, it is a complete cop-out. Nobody, in my view, should be able to avoid paying for the upkeep of their children. In my experience, the great bulk of people want to contribute to the upkeep of their children. But what this Child Support Legislation Amendment Bill 1998 does is divide families and it makes the wives and children of second families second-class citizens in Australia.
The Melbourne Coroner heard the sad story of a man who hanged himself in a police cell after two years of being denied access to his three children. One more victim adding weight to the continuing public concern about gross inequities in the treatment of non-custodial parents after divorce.
By the end of the day, the Howard Government had struck another blow to the campaign promoting the rights of non-custodial parents. In announcing changes to the Child Support Scheme, it wimped out.
Bettina Arndt (2/10/97 SMH/Age) talks of the costly Child Support Scheme and questions whether the cost of collection can be justified. Bettina is on the right track but research reveals that the cost to all Australians is far greater than that.
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