Child Support Agency Australia

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Please improve this article if you can. (April 2007)

The Child Support Agency Australia (CSA) is a Government of Australia agency established in 1988 to administer the assessment and collection of child support[1][2], to replace the previous ad hoc Australian child maintenance system dealt with by the Courts.

Currently the CSA has around 1.5 million customers [3] and is regarded internationally as a very cost-effective transferor of child support maintenance [4].

It was initially part of the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), then the Department of Family and Community Services and is now in the Department of Human Services. There are Child Support Agency offices in each state and territory.

The child support formula is contained in the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989, [5] with a right to appeal to a Court.

In 1994 a Joint Select Committee of the Australian Senate advised that the child support scheme was in need of review.

In 2005 another parliamentary review of the Child Support Scheme [6] recommended significant change to the Scheme. The review stated the child support scheme in Australia was 'fundamentally flawed' and in need of reform.

The Child Support Legislation Amendment (Reform of the Child Support Scheme--Initial Measures) Act 2006[7] addresses a number of the issues identified by the parliamentary review, including some of the concerns raised by fathers and fathers' rights groups. The changes also provide for increased powers in CSA's handling and pursuit of non-compliant paying parents.

The CSA ranked second to Centrelink in the number of complaints against it in the most recent Commonwealth Ombudsman annual report. In 2006-2007, 1,790 complaints (or 5% of the total number of complaints made to the Commonwealth Ombudsman) were about the CSA[8].

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Child Support Act 1988 No. 3 of 1988
  2. ^ Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988
  3. ^ CSA website, http://www.csa.gov.au/agency/facts
  4. ^ Child Support Schemes: Australia and Comparisons 2006, http://www.csa.gov.au/publications/pdf/1248.pdf
  5. ^ Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 No. 124 of 1989
  6. ^ In the Best Interests of Children - Reforming the Child Support Scheme (Ministerial Taskforce), released on 14 June 2005]
  7. ^ Child Support Legislation Amendment (Reform of the Child Support Scheme--Initial Measures) Act 2006 (No. 53, 2006)
  8. ^ Commonwealth Ombudsman Annual Report 2006-07, http://www.ombudsman.gov.au/publications_information/annual_reports/ar2006-07/download/PDF/appx4_table_a1.pdf

[edit] External links