Services Australia is under fire for not being proactive over Child Support payments. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
A Commonwealth Ombudsman investigation into Services Australia has found the agency is not doing enough to curtail “the weaponisation of Child Support”.
Ombudsman Iain Anderson concluded that Services Australia was not properly identifying or responding to cases of financial abuse through the Child Support program.
His report, released on Tuesday (3 June), found the agency’s actions were “either unfair or unreasonable” in addressing the widespread manipulation of the system.
“Former partners weaponise Child Support by deliberately not making payments or not lodging tax returns, lying to reduce their income, lying about care arrangements and being abusive or violent to stop the impacted parent from seeking help,” Mr Anderson said.
“Parents affected by financial abuse through Child Support keep telling us they feel abandoned and let down by Services Australia when they seek help for financial abuse in their Child Support cases.”
The investigation found that Services Australia lacked policies, strategies and training to be able to proactively identify, monitor and respond to cases of financial abuse through Child Support.
Mr Anderson has made eight recommendations, including that Services Australia more effectively enforce payment of Child Support and that it comprehensively review its processes.
The Ombudsman also recommended that the Federal Government introduce legislation to amend the law to address limitations that could impede Services Australia’s enforcement action.
The Bill should also aid information sharing within Services Australia, and help survivors of abuse to disclose sensitive information about their former partner.
Other recommendations include developing publicly available strategies to better manage the program, improving methods to more effectively enforce payment, recording more easily measurable data and evidence, and providing better staff training to prevent the weaponisation of the program.
The Ombudsman also wants Services Australia and its parent agency, the Department of Social Services, to provide a comprehensive progress update within 12 months regarding how his recommendations are being actioned.
Mr Anderson’s report claimed financial abuse over Child Support is amplified by a tax system that calculates income assuming all support payments were made, even if they weren’t.
“The legislation needs reform to address systemic problems and help Services Australia ensure children are not deprived of the financial support they need,” he said.
“This is really important because child support is all about children — vulnerable children — who need to be financially supported while they’re growing up.”
About 1.1 million children are supported by the Child Support program.
The Ombudsman’s investigation revealed that as of 31 December 2024, there was $1.9 billion in Child Support collection debt, and 153,694 paying parents had a Child Support debt.
The investigation reviewed more than 270 complaints received by the Ombudsman’s office, as well as academic research and information provided by Services Australia.
“We are of the view that, while aspects of the current legislative framework should be amended, the current legislative framework does not prevent Services Australia from implementing the recommendations,” the report states.
“Services Australia is not doing enough to actively deal with the weaponisation of the Child Support program.
“While its approach is well-intentioned and welfare-focused, it is not helping to get the money owed to parents when their kids need it the most.
“The agency is not actively identifying financial abuse or using its enforcement powers as effectively or proactively as it could.
“This passive approach is unfair. It allows some paying parents to manipulate the system to avoid their financial responsibility in raising their children, largely without consequences.
“Services Australia is actively recovering Family Tax Benefit Part A debts from receiving parents, whether those parents have, in fact, been paid the Child Support they are owed.
“This is unfair and places those parents at a double disadvantage – in effect amplifying the impact of the financial abuse they are suffering through the actions of their former partner.”
Services Australia has accepted all of the report’s recommendations, while the Department of Social Services accepted seven of the eight and “noted” the recommendation about legislation.
The report also states that it is important to remember that both men and women can be the primary carer after a separation or a divorce, both can be entitled to receive Child Support, and both can be victims of financial abuse.
“The Child Support program can be weaponised by either parent: the parent who needs to pay and the parent who is entitled to the payment,” it states.
“In this report, however, our focus is on financial abuse perpetrated by the paying parent, which is overwhelmingly the subject of the complaints we receive about Child Support in this context.”
