George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs, I present the committee's report on the inquiry into the child support program entitled From conflict to cooperation, together with the minutes of the proceedings.

In accordance with standing order 39(e) the report was made a parliamentary paper.

by leave—The child support program is one of Australia's largest and most complex administrative schemes. More than a million children are covered by the program, created to ensure that the financial needs of children are catered for appropriately by parents in the event of parental separation.

From the outset, a relationship breakdown can be an extremely difficult time for family members with different points of stress evident between separating parents and children. With a change in family dynamic comes the need to redefine relationships and ensure that decisions taken reflect the needs of all family members, but with a particular focus on the welfare of the children involved. In many cases, separating parents are able to come to an amicable resolution in developing new family arrangements; however in some instances a high degree of conflict may be present.

The child support program is one of the more significant programs administered by the Australian government and, as such, has been the source of much debate since it was created in the 1980s. In part, this is because no administrative system can hope to deal perfectly with complex individual circumstances surrounding relationship breakdown and separation. It is also difficult to account for system participants, who more often than not enter into the child support system at one of the most difficult times in their lives, meaning that the program can become a lightning rod for much of the anger, disappointment and conflict that people may experience as a result of separation. Feelings about child support run deep.

The committee heard from nearly 12,000 individuals and groups around Australia during this inquiry. We have identified a number of ways in which the child support program could be improved. While in most cases the child support system functions properly, it is by no means perfect, and the committee has made 25 recommendations which will improve both the design of the scheme and its administration.

The committee's intention throughout the report has been to make recommendations which will help separated parents find ways to raise their children cooperatively, so that as many children as possible can grow up in homes that are free from ongoing conflict.

The first of the report's key recommendations is that the Australian government expand the role of mediation in the child support system. Mediation can help separating parents to refocus on the needs of their children, helping them to find ways to cooperate in their postseparation life. A carefully designed child support mediation program has the potential to substantially reduce the burden of conflict on the child support system.

The committee has recommended that the Australian government conduct a review of the child support formula. The last comprehensive review of the formula was conducted a decade ago, and the intervening years have seen substantial changes to the Australian economy and social welfare system. It is important that the Australian government ensures that the formula does not drift into unfairness.

Further recommendations in this report focus on communication. It can be very difficult to understand how the child support system works, and the agency charged with administering the system has not always done a good job in explaining its decisions to child support clients. The committee has recommended that the Australian government make a range of improvements to the way the Department of Human Services communicates with child support program clients.

The committee has also recommended that the Australian government create a specialist family violence unit within the Department of Human Services. This will help to ensure that victims of family violence receive appropriate services from the Australian government so that child support is not used as a venue for continuing abuse.

In addition, the committee has recommended that the government conduct research into a limited child support guarantee. A guarantee could potentially provide much needed support to the most vulnerable child support clients, but more research is needed to ensure that it would be suitable for Australian conditions.

The committee has also made recommendations which relate to the enforcement of child support payments, the collection of child support debts, and parenting disputes involving child support.

The child support program can never hope to make separation an easy experience for parents and their children. However, the recommendations in this report will assist parents to move past the difficulties of separation and make it easier to find fair and cooperative ways to raise their children after separation.

In closing, can I thank fellow committee members, particularly the deputy chair, the member for Newcastle, and other participants; I note that some are here in the chamber. I also thank the secretariat for the hard, long and dedicated work that they put into the research, collating the 12,000 submissions that we received, and for their assistance in compiling the final report.

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