By David Sibley
A
Ministerial Taskforce has recommended sweeping changes to child-support
arrangements.
The Minister for Family and Community Services, Kay Patterson,
said the 30 recommendations from the Ministerial Taskforce on
Child Support, made public on June 14, would receive “careful
consideration”.
The report, In the Best Interests of Children, by the Taskforce
on Child Support, set up in August last year by the Government,
has recommended a new child-support formula, based on the costs
of children calculated from the combined income of parents.
The proposed formula would see the costs of children distributed
between the mother and father in accordance with their respective
shares of the combined income and levels of contact.
“This gives practical expression to the first objective of
the Scheme, that parents share in the cost of supporting their
children according to their capacity,” the report says.
The taskforce found that the current formula for child support
was no longer appropriate because:
- fixed
percentages of taxable income in the current scheme were well
in excess of levels of expenditure on children in intact families;
- using
set percentages of income, irrespective of age, was not sensitive
to the difference in costs of children as they grew older; and
- there
was a need to reflect two incomes, given a majority of intact
families depended on two incomes. The new formula recommended
by the taskforce would take into account Government contributions
towards the costs of children, child care costs, regular contact
and shared care.
The
new formula would express the costs of children in a table based
upon the parents’ combined Child Support Income in two age
bands, 0-12 and 13-17, to reflect the fact that expenditure on
teenagers was generally much higher than for young children.
It also expresses the costs for one, two and three or more children,
instead of up-to-five children as at present.
A key recommendations is to increase the current self-support
amount ($13,462 in 2005) to one-third of male total average weekly
earnings ($16,883 in the 2005-2006 financial year.
To ensure parents meet their obligations, the taskforce recommended
the required child support payment should be $20 a week for each
child for those who are not on income support or who report taxable
incomes below the maximum parenting payment.
If a parent is on income support, then the formula would be suspended
and a minimum payment of $5 a week would apply.
The report says the proposed new formula could not and would not
address all the grievances people have had about the Child Support
Scheme.
“Sometimes grievances about child support reflect concerns
about other aspects of family law, such as resentment about the
difficulties in enforcing contact orders, or disagreement with
the ‘no-fault’ basis of divorce law,” it says.
“The Child Support Scheme cannot address these issues –
although its design should minimise unnecessary conflict and should
be responsive to the strong emotions at play when separated parents
are required to work together to provide continuing support for
this children.”
For further information, go to http://www.facs.gov.au/internet/facsinternet.nsf/family/childsupportreport.htm
