In the Best Interests of Children - Reforming the Child Support Scheme - Report of the Ministerial Taskforce on Child Support
Letter of transmittal
Ministerial Taskforce on Child Support
The Hon Senator Kay Patterson
Minister for Family and Community Services
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Dear Minister
I am please to be able to present to you the Report of the Ministerial Taskforce on Child Support.
After intensive and wide-ranging new research, and consultation with a range of stakeholders, the Taskforce is recommending fundamental changes to the way in which child support obligations are assessed. It is also recommending a number of changes to the way the formula is administered, within the ambit of the Terms of Reference.
The motivation for these changes is based on findings that the current scheme:
- Does not reflect current community standards, particularly in relation to the sharing of parenting by fathers and increasing workforce participation of mothers;
- Does not accurately reflect the relationship between income and spending on children in ordinary families; and
- It is not well integrated, in significant respects, with the income support and family payments systems, nor with the system of family law.
The Taskforce has endeavoured to develop a new approach that is better informed by evidence, better integrated, and more transparently fair to both parents, and that focuses on the needs of children.
The report explains in detail the approach and research methods taken by the Taskforce and the underlying principals and reasoning for the Recommendations made. It contains detailed cameos of disposable family incomes under the proposed and existing schemes, modelling of population impacts of the proposed scheme and a series of original research papers.
The Taskforce has developed its recommendations as an integrated package of measure where each component has been carefully considered and balanced against every other component. It is my hope that the Government will consider them in that light.
Yours sincerely
Patrick Parkinson
Chairperson
Ministerial Taskforce on child Support
3 June 2005
The Taskforce would like to place on record its appreciation for the outstanding support so willingly provided by the staff of the Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS) and other departments and agencies.
Valuable assistance was provided from right across FaCS, including the Family Relationship Services and Child Support Policy Branch, the Family Payments Branch, the Research and Data Management Branch and the Ministerial, Media and Executive Support Branch.
The Secretariat to the Taskforce was drawn from within FaCS, and a wide array of staff played a part in the Secretariat in the course of the Taskforce’s investigations. The leadership provided by Tony Carmichael (Assistant Secretary, Family Relationship Services and Child Support Policy Branch) and Robyn Seth-Purdie (Director, Child Support Policy) in the course of this exercise and their enthusiasm and commitment has been especially appreciated. The Taskforce would also like to thank Kirsten Anker, Allison Barnes, Dominic Comparelli, Greg Dare, Michael Fuery, Natalee Gersbach, Emma Hall, Rose-Marie Hamood, Andrew Herscovitch, John Olejniczak, Rebecca Pietsch, Anne Pulford, Anna Ritson, Amanda Robertson, Val Ridley, and Mira Zivkovic.
Responsibility for the content of the Report and the associated recommendations rests, of course, with the Taskforce.