Protecting Families From Weaponisation Of Child Support

The Albanese Labor Government invested $183 million in this week's Budget to make the child support system safer, and to help more children get the support they are owed.

These historic reforms will help prevent the weaponisation of the child support system and protect parents and children from financial abuse.

We have had many personal stories shared with us about how the child support system is being weaponised to abuse and intimidate parents and how children are missing out on getting the financial support they need. These reforms will make a real difference for families doing it tough, especially for women experiencing abuse.

There is more than $1.9 billion of unpaid child support in Australia. There are almost 100,000 parents and carers in the child support system who have experienced or are at risk of experiencing family and domestic violence. Australian children deserve better.

This reform package includes the first major changes to the child support system in nearly 20 years and will improve every element of the system, from initial assessment through to payment and compliance, with measures which will help parents navigate the system more easily, keep parents and children safer and help ensure payments are made.

These reforms deliver on Labor's 2025 election commitment to address financial abuse in the Commonweath's systems, and they respond to the calls of women's safety and child support advocates over many years.

The Government's reforms include:

• New online support and guidance for parents first entering the child support system, to help them choose the best collection method and avoid unnecessary conflict
• More pathways for people to change their collection method and better protection from family payment debts for people who have private collection arrangements
• Expanding the use of 'employer withholding' as the default payment method, bringing $520 million of payments per year into a more reliable and timely payment arrangement
• Increasing the use of Departure Prohibition Orders so that parents with large unpaid child support arrears need to agree payment arrangements before they can travel overseas
• Prosecuting more people who refuse to lodge their tax returns to avoid paying child support
• Stronger powers for Services Australia to collect more unpaid child support from private collection arrangements when parents shift to the Agency Collect system
• New powers for Services Australia to stop vexatious and harassing behaviour and to protect the information of parents at risk of abuse or coercion
• Better data sharing between Services Australia and the Australian Tax Office for more accurate child support assessments

This package of measures will be implemented progressively from 2026 with the first legislative amendments to be introduced to the parliament in coming months.

These reforms build on the Albanese Government's 2023 legislative changes to improve fairness by improving timely collection of child support owed and to reduce the accumulation of debts.