Latest news with #CommonwealthOmbudsman
Epoch Times
2 days ago
- General
- Epoch Times
Child Support System Being Weaponised for Financial Abuse, Ombudsman Found
Parents are weaponising Australia's child support system to commit financial abuse, with Services Australia's passive oversight further compounding the harm, the Commonwealth Ombudsman has found. According to the June 3 report, some parents are evading their obligations by deliberately withholding tax returns, misrepresenting earnings, and using threats or coercion to prevent the other parent from seeking help. The Child Support program, which handles about half of all arrangements, failed to proactively detect or stop such manipulation, the Ombudsman said. '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,' quotes the report.
Perth Now
3 days ago
- Business
- Perth Now
‘Broken': Single mums financially abused
Australian child support frameworks are in urgent need of reform as a new report reveals the number of parents, especially women, financially abused through the system. The Commonwealth ombudsman into the 'weaponisation' of the child support program has revealed the dark underbelly of the financial abuse rife throughout the system, with more than 153,000 parents having a combined $1.9bn in unpaid child support. Parents lying about their income, deliberately reducing their earnings, lying about how much they care for the children, or just straight up refusing to pay have all been identified as evidence the system is failing families, especially women and children. 'The legislation needs reform to address systemic problems and help Services Australia ensure children are not deprived of the financial support they need,' Commonwealth Ombudsman Iain Anderson said. In a survey of more than 500 separated mothers, four in five said their former partner had used the program to commit financial abuse. The system is meant to support more than 1.2 million separated parents and 1.1 million affected children. About 84 per cent of parents receiving child support payments to be women. The report has revealed the plethora of ways child abuse can be used as a form of financial abuse. Commonwealth Ombudsman Credit: Supplied The report condemned Services Australia as being 'unfair and unreasonable' by failing to use its powers to enforce payments. 'This passive approach is unfair,' the report said. 'It allows some paying parents to manipulate the system to avoid their financial responsibility in raising their children, largely without consequences.' It is reported that the Services Australia lacked the frameworks to proactively respond to cases of abuse. 'I am a single mum trying to look after my children. One has a disability. Services Australia is taking $500 from me a week and I simply cannot afford this,' one woman wrote in a complaint to the Ombudsman. 'My rent alone is $580. I am going to end up homeless with my kids and Services Australia is not understanding at all.' Under the current system, when a child support payer lodges their tax return, the government assumes any outstanding child support has been paid, which raises an overpayment of the Family Tax Benefit Part A. Services Australia then recovers the 'overpaid' FTB A, whether or not the child support has actually been paid. 'I'm going to end up homeless,' the current system is allowing parents to manipulate the child support system, report says. istock image Credit: istock 'This kind of financial abuse is something our member centres see all the time, so we are very pleased to have it recognised in this morning's report from the Commonwealth Ombudsman,' Economic Justice Australia chief executive Kate Allingham said. 'However, what the scope of this report makes clear is that there is something broken at the heart of the social security system. 'It's mind-blowing that it is so easy for a perpetrator to inflict such profound financial harm on another individual; that they are so easily able to create a debt for a former partner which Services Australia is then required to pursue.' The ombudsman made eight recommendations to Services Australia, including developing a publicly available strategy on addressing financial abuse through child support, more effectively enforcing payments, and training staff to better understand financial abuse. All recommendations were approved. Services Australia is implementing all recommendations within a year's time. Credit: Supplied 'We thank the Ombudsman for the thorough investigation into this important issue. Financial abuse and all forms of family and domestic violence are serious and damaging issues affecting many of our customers,' a Services Australia spokesman said. 'Services Australia accepts all eight recommendations, and work has already begun to implement these fully. 'We'll implement many of the recommendations by December 2025 and the remainder by June 2026. 'We know financial abuse is a complex issue, and we're working closely with the Department of Social Services, the Australian Taxation Office, and the Office for Women to address this. 'While legislation limits some of the improvements we can make, we acknowledge there's work we can do within the existing policy to better support parents who are child Support customers and their children.' The Department of Social Services accepted all recommendations except for one. iStock Credit: istock The Department of Social Services also accepted all conditions, except for introducing a Bill to amend the law to address legal limitations for the current system outlined in the report. 'Today's Ombudsman's report confirms child support is being weaponised against single mothers and that government systems have failed to recognise or respond to this. These failures mean the systems themselves have enabled financial abuse,' Single Mother Families Australia chief executive Teresa Edwards said, 'The concerns we have raised on behalf of single mothers over many years have been vindicated.'
The Advertiser
3 days ago
- Business
- The Advertiser
Child support 'weaponised' against parents: report
Parents experiencing financial abuse feel abandoned and let down through the child support program, as Labor is urged to change laws to make it easier to enforce rules on perpetrators. A report released by the Commonwealth Ombudsman on Tuesday found not enough is being done to identify and stop financial abuse through child support. Services Australia's actions were found to be unfair or unreasonable in responding to "widespread manipulation and weaponisation" of financial payments. The agency lacked policies, strategies and training to be able to proactively identify, monitor and respond to cases of abuse, the report found. The ombudsman recommended the federal government introduce legislation to address limitations that impede Services Australia enforcement. Information sharing and a requirement of abuse survivors to disclose sensitive details with their former partner should also restrained. In Australia, there are about 1.1 million kids supported by the child support program. Women are the main recipients of child support, which is usually paid for by men. In a survey of more than 500 separated mothers, four in five said their former partner had used the program to commit financial abuse. "We are being told of cases where former partners are ... 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 asking for help," the report reads. Services Australia distributed $1.967 billion in payments in the 2023/24 financial year. The investigation found as of December 2024 there was $1.9 billion in Child Support Collect debt and 153,694 paying parents had a debt. Commonwealth Ombudsman Iain Anderson said affected parents "keep telling us they feel abandoned and let down by Services Australia when they seek help for financial abuse in their child support cases". Services Australia accepted all of the eight recommendations, while the social services department accepted all but one. Lifeline 13 11 14 beyondblue 1300 22 4636 Parents experiencing financial abuse feel abandoned and let down through the child support program, as Labor is urged to change laws to make it easier to enforce rules on perpetrators. A report released by the Commonwealth Ombudsman on Tuesday found not enough is being done to identify and stop financial abuse through child support. Services Australia's actions were found to be unfair or unreasonable in responding to "widespread manipulation and weaponisation" of financial payments. The agency lacked policies, strategies and training to be able to proactively identify, monitor and respond to cases of abuse, the report found. The ombudsman recommended the federal government introduce legislation to address limitations that impede Services Australia enforcement. Information sharing and a requirement of abuse survivors to disclose sensitive details with their former partner should also restrained. In Australia, there are about 1.1 million kids supported by the child support program. Women are the main recipients of child support, which is usually paid for by men. In a survey of more than 500 separated mothers, four in five said their former partner had used the program to commit financial abuse. "We are being told of cases where former partners are ... 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 asking for help," the report reads. Services Australia distributed $1.967 billion in payments in the 2023/24 financial year. The investigation found as of December 2024 there was $1.9 billion in Child Support Collect debt and 153,694 paying parents had a debt. Commonwealth Ombudsman Iain Anderson said affected parents "keep telling us they feel abandoned and let down by Services Australia when they seek help for financial abuse in their child support cases". Services Australia accepted all of the eight recommendations, while the social services department accepted all but one. Lifeline 13 11 14 beyondblue 1300 22 4636 Parents experiencing financial abuse feel abandoned and let down through the child support program, as Labor is urged to change laws to make it easier to enforce rules on perpetrators. A report released by the Commonwealth Ombudsman on Tuesday found not enough is being done to identify and stop financial abuse through child support. Services Australia's actions were found to be unfair or unreasonable in responding to "widespread manipulation and weaponisation" of financial payments. The agency lacked policies, strategies and training to be able to proactively identify, monitor and respond to cases of abuse, the report found. The ombudsman recommended the federal government introduce legislation to address limitations that impede Services Australia enforcement. Information sharing and a requirement of abuse survivors to disclose sensitive details with their former partner should also restrained. In Australia, there are about 1.1 million kids supported by the child support program. Women are the main recipients of child support, which is usually paid for by men. In a survey of more than 500 separated mothers, four in five said their former partner had used the program to commit financial abuse. "We are being told of cases where former partners are ... 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 asking for help," the report reads. Services Australia distributed $1.967 billion in payments in the 2023/24 financial year. The investigation found as of December 2024 there was $1.9 billion in Child Support Collect debt and 153,694 paying parents had a debt. Commonwealth Ombudsman Iain Anderson said affected parents "keep telling us they feel abandoned and let down by Services Australia when they seek help for financial abuse in their child support cases". Services Australia accepted all of the eight recommendations, while the social services department accepted all but one. Lifeline 13 11 14 beyondblue 1300 22 4636 Parents experiencing financial abuse feel abandoned and let down through the child support program, as Labor is urged to change laws to make it easier to enforce rules on perpetrators. A report released by the Commonwealth Ombudsman on Tuesday found not enough is being done to identify and stop financial abuse through child support. Services Australia's actions were found to be unfair or unreasonable in responding to "widespread manipulation and weaponisation" of financial payments. The agency lacked policies, strategies and training to be able to proactively identify, monitor and respond to cases of abuse, the report found. The ombudsman recommended the federal government introduce legislation to address limitations that impede Services Australia enforcement. Information sharing and a requirement of abuse survivors to disclose sensitive details with their former partner should also restrained. In Australia, there are about 1.1 million kids supported by the child support program. Women are the main recipients of child support, which is usually paid for by men. In a survey of more than 500 separated mothers, four in five said their former partner had used the program to commit financial abuse. "We are being told of cases where former partners are ... 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 asking for help," the report reads. Services Australia distributed $1.967 billion in payments in the 2023/24 financial year. The investigation found as of December 2024 there was $1.9 billion in Child Support Collect debt and 153,694 paying parents had a debt. Commonwealth Ombudsman Iain Anderson said affected parents "keep telling us they feel abandoned and let down by Services Australia when they seek help for financial abuse in their child support cases". Services Australia accepted all of the eight recommendations, while the social services department accepted all but one. Lifeline 13 11 14 beyondblue 1300 22 4636
