Child Support Expert Panel
The Australian Government has established a Child Support Expert Panel (Expert Panel) in response to a recommendation made in the Third Interim Report of the 2019 Joint Select Committee on Australia’s Family Law System (Committee).
The Expert Panel will make expert recommendations to the Department of Social Services (the Department) on child support matters.
More information about the Committee and the Australian Government response is available at: Joint Select Committee on Australia's Family Law System.
Learn more about how the Australian Government is implementing the child support recommendations from the Family Law Inquiry.
Membership
The Expert Panel has been appointed by the Department and includes academics with expertise in child support research, family law and expenditure data.
| Member | Organisation |
|---|---|
| Prof Matthew Gray | Director POLIS, Australian National University |
| Prof Bruce Smyth | Professor of Family Studies, POLIS, Australian National University |
| Prof Janeen Baxter | Director, Institute for Social Science, Life Course Centre, University of Queensland |
| Prof Belinda Fehlberg | Professor of law, Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne |
| Prof Paul Henman | Professor of Social Science, School of Social Science, University of Queensland |
| Dr Rae Kaspiew | Research Director, Australian Institute of Family Studies |
| Prem Aleema | Solicitor in Charge, Child Support Service, Legal Aid NSW |
| Associate Prof Bruce Bradbury | Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales |
Scope
The Expert Panel will:
- support the Department to commission cost of children and related research;
- consider technical details of the operation of the child support scheme; and
- develop a methodology to review the child support formula more regularly when routine expenditure data is published (such as the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Living Costs in Australia Survey).
Governance
- The Expert Panel is an independent panel.
- The Department is responsible for supporting the Expert Panel, and commissioning costs of children and related research.
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