Seizure threat to deadbeat parents over child payments
AN army of private investigators will be employed as part of a crackdown on parents who collectively owe $1 billion in child support payments.
Human Services Minister Joe Ludwig yesterday said the Rudd Government had made new arrangements to seize assets from parents who failed to comply with court orders to pay outstanding child support.
Laws would also be introduced to ensure both parents lodged tax returns and that salary-sacrificed amounts were added to income for the purpose of calculating child support payments.
Senator Ludwig warned parents who failed to pay that they would be forced to face the consequences.
“Parents should do the right thing by their kids and give them the level of support they deserve,” he said.
Changes to the calculation of child support payments come into force on July 1.
The changes, which allow parents who care for their children every week to pay less in child support and which give equal consideration to both parents’ incomes, have been criticised as favouring single fathers.
Shared Parenting Council of Australia federal director Edward Dabrowski said he was concerned about the “draconian” nature of some of the enforcement measures announced yesterday.
Mr Dabrowski said “deadbeat dads” were rarely to blame for missed payments. Instead, he said misunderstandings between parents, a denial of contact by one parent, or fathers being “on the poverty line” were more often the cause.
“I think before going off and using these draconian measures of surveillance and seizing assets - these are drastic measures - more effort should be made to ease tension between parents and restore contact,” he said.
Read the full story Seizure threat to deadbeat parents over child payments | The Australian