Economic Abuse Awareness Day 2025: Fix Child Support

To mark Economic Abuse Awareness Day in Australia on 26 November 2025, the Working with Women Alliance is publishing a report that includes recommendations for the Australian Government on how the child support system can be made safer. In this post,  Terese Edwards, CEO of Single Mother Families Australia, and Professor Kay  Cook set out problems with the child support system identified through a range of government reviews, provide an overview of the WwWA report, and explain how the recommendations in the report align with government reviews and initiatives to advance the National Plan to prevent Violence Against Women and Children. 

On Economic Abuse Awareness Day in 2025, the Working with Women’s Alliance is releasing its Ending The Weaponisation of The Child Support System report calling for the separation of child support from social security. Whilst delinking these systems is not the only recommendation, without delinking, the system will continue to harm those whom it was established to assist. 

How does child support harm women?

In a child support system where 8 out of 10 recipients are mothers with adjusted annual taxable incomes of just over $40,000, child support and family tax benefit payments provide vital economic resources that are critical for raising children. But, as research and government inquiries have shown, the system’s design means that low-income mothers’ income is often unreliable and can even cause harm.

When a non-resident parent hasn’t lodged a tax return, Services Australia accepts and uses provisional income to calculate the resident parent’s child support and Family Tax Benefit Part A (FTB A).  If the non-resident parent then submits a late tax return—sometimes years after the fact—a retrospective recalculation of child support and FTB A is triggered. Services Australia can conclude that the too much FTB A has been paid, leading to demands for repayment.

Advocacy organisations note that the first sign that mothers get that something is wrong often comes when their family payments suddenly decrease or are not deposited into their bank accounts. Women's lives become even more precarious as debt hinders their credit ratings and jeopardises access to banking products and to securing rental properties; tasks that were difficult become impossible.

Additionally, owing money to Services Australia disqualifies women from accessing crisis loans. Ironically, a child support debt tied to the payer does not affect the ex-partner’s credit rating at all, meaning it carries little consequence for the non-resident parent.

One Rule, Multiply Problems

Under the current rules, women must enter a child support agreement to retain critical assistance, such as FTB A. If mothers don’t seek child support, low-income families lose up to 70% of FTB A payments. If mothers do seek child support, each dollar expected or received reduces FTB A by 50 cents.  Women have little understanding of the impact of not entering or leaving the child support system. In order to receive FTB A above the base rate, women need to stay in the child support system even if they have an agreement with “Nil” amount or the minimum amount of $1.46 per day.

A new approach is needed

The simple fix of requiring the 40% of payers who have not lodged an annual tax return won't solve the problem.  As the Inspector General of Taxation, the Commonwealth Ombudsman and the parliamentary Inquiry into Financial Abuse have shown, the connections between child support, tax returns and family payments are how harms are enacted.

In addition to the risks posed to women through the linking of child support and family payments, the Working with Women Alliance’s recommendations reflect concerns about the heightened vulnerabilities of women in Private Collect, which accounts for about 50% of cases. For the purpose for FTB A calculation, Services Australia assumes child support is received in full. The assumption is maintained despite substantial evidence to the contrary.  The report argues that many quick fixes are available if the Government merely fulfilled its responsibilities. The report also captured some blue-sky thinking. If we could start again, we could create a more streamlined and effective service: a child support system that reflects the original principles and repositions child support as an entitlement with certainty.

Government appetite for reform

The Working with Women Alliance’s recommendations align with the National Plan to End Gender Based Violence, the Audit of Australian Government Systems, and the Working for Women: A Strategy for Gender Equality.  Importantly, delinking child support from family payments is the recommendation fully aligned with government directions and, in turn, would give women control, certainty and safety.

What Women Say

A 2023 study of single mothers revealed that 80% of women reported that ex-partners with a history of gender-based violence continued to exert control through the child support system following separation. 

Women are speaking up; they feel deeply betrayed, and a Fix Child Support campaign captured that sentiment. The campaign included research, Opening the black box of child support: Shining a light on how financial abuse is perpetrated. Critically, the Government is leaning in, and the matter was an election commitment. Marking a significant shift. It is exciting that we are past policy persuasion; it is now about how child support will be fixed.

There is a new permissiveness and expectation that child support is discussed at events, including the inaugural and recent International Coalitions Against Economic Abuse in presentations by Rosie Batty and the Commission for Family, Domestic, and Sexual Violence.  Whilst there are many excellent solutions and ideas, we must start with delinking.  Australia cannot force women to enter a system that harms them, creates debts, and we cannot disregard the lifelong consequences of that harm.

Importantly, we must listen to women.

Content moderator: Sue Olney