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Member for Hume Alby Schultz believes there may be some light at the end of the tunnel in his fight to achieve positive change within Australia’s Child Support Agency.
Mr Schultz said in recent weeks he had taken his concerns directly to the Prime Minister and had met with senior advisers to the Minister for Human Services, Joe Hockey.
“During my meeting with the Prime Minister he agreed that there were issues with child support that the Government needed to address.
“I have called on the PM to hasten the Government’s response to the recommendations contained in the Parkinson Report, which was handed down more than three months ago and is in my view long overdue for a decision.”
Mr Schultz said he was pleased that it seemed the community’s concerns were no longer falling on deaf ears.
During his meeting with Mr Hockey’s staff recently, several suggestions were put forward that could result, if adopted, in significant improvements for payers.
“The first suggestion we made was that an independent tribunal be established as a final point of appeal in child support matters. Similar tribunals already operate for Centrelink and Immigration cases so why doesn’t Child Support have one,” Mr Schultz said.
“Further to this, we have raised the issue of the false information which is often provided by payees and on which child support assessments are based. We feel that payees who provide information to the Child Support Agency, regarding the parentage of their child or the financial details of their former partners for example, should be accompanied by a statutory declaration with appropriate penalties for untruthful statements.”
Mr Schultz said he was continuing to assess hundreds of case files from clients who were frustrated and concerned about the existing child support legislation and its administration.
“I have compiled some excellent cases in point and will be taking those to a meeting I have scheduled next week with a consultant, who has been engaged to assist the Child Support Agency with a review of its service delivery and development of a strategic plan,” Mr Schultz said.
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