By Dan Parker
The Government has announced plans for an overhaul of the child support system; its main aim is to reduce $2 billion of debt owed by parents.
As a solo father Allan Harvey has first hand experience of what he describes as inequalities in the child support system.
Mr Harvey is also the national president of the Union of Fathers and excited about proposed changes.
“Well we are very pleased to see there's some thing on paper from Mr Dunne, because there have been promises for a long time,” Mr Harvey says. “So it really good to see there are recommendations and options to consider.”
Two billion dollars is owed by liable parents and Revenue Minister Peter Dunne says the current system isn't working.
“It's 20 years old, social conditions have changed. I think in some areas it's unfair, in some areas it is inflexible but it also simply doesn't take account of the times,” Mr Dunne says.
So this is his proposal:
- Improving the tracking of runaway parents, here and abroad
- Enforcing mandatory deductions from salaries and wages for outstanding payments
- Relaxing financial penalties as an incentive to pay overdue payments - $1.4 billion of the $2 billion owed is made up by penalties
Mr Dunne says the way payments are calculated also needs to be adjusted; it is currently based on the number of nights a child spends with each parent.
“The question we are posing and want to look at is whether that is in effect too inflexible,” he says. “Whether there are many other factors that should be taken into account such as pre-school, after school care and various other types of care and attention.”
He also wants to see both parents' incomes considered when future payments are devised.
When the child support system was introduced in 1991 around 30 percent of custodial parents were in the work force; that figure is now sits at over 50 percent.
Submissions close at the end of October.
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