Pauline Hanson gets her wish: child support to be audite
The federal government's independent auditor has flagged an investigation of the $3.5 billion child support system, a move that could provide further ammunition for Pauline Hanson's claim that the system is unfair to non-custodial parents. It's the latest in a push to test the integrity of the child welfare system, which some claim is plagued by rorting by some parents trying to dodge child support payments and some childcare service providers who are blamed for almost $600 million in incorrect government payment claims. The Australian National Audit Office has listed the child support system as a priority issue for audits for 2016-17 and plans to focus on the arrangements between the Australian Taxation Office and the Department of Human Services. In the weeks following the federal election, Nationals MPs reported to their partyroom that anger over the child support system was a sleeper issue that risked losing voters to One Nation unless major parties started taking notice. The accuracy and effectiveness of the child support system is based on parents lodging accurate tax returns to give their assessable taxable income, In 2014-15, about $3.5 billion was transferred between separated parents to support about 1.2 million children. In the same year, the ATO and Department of Human Services were behind 65,678 enforcement actions on parents' tax returns to collect an extra $27.4 million in child support payments.