Bill
Family Assistance and Child Support Legislation Amendment (Protecting Children) Bill 2018
passed, as at 2018-05-22. Social Services portfolio.
- Sponsor
- Not recorded
- Portfolio
- Social Services
Recorded stages
- introduced — 2017-09-14
- second reading — 2017-09-14
- second reading — 2018-02-12
- second reading — 2018-02-12
- committee — 2018-02-12
- third reading — 2018-02-12
- introduced — 2018-02-13
- second reading — 2018-02-13
- second reading — 2018-05-08
- second reading — 2018-05-08
- committee — 2018-05-08
- committee — 2018-05-09
- third reading — 2018-05-09
- passed — 2018-05-09
- royal assent — 2018-05-22
Divisions
- The majority voted in favour of keeping [part 2 of schedule 1](http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;db=LEGISLATION;id=legislation%2Fbills%2Fr5976_third-reps%2F0001;query=Id%3A%22legislation%2Fbills%2Fr5976_third-reps%2F0000%22;rec=0#5eaa6ce3e3cc4a508d30fa29bb1d9a05) unchanged. In parliamentary jargon, they voted for that part to "stand as printed". This vote was put after Labor Senator [Louise Pratt](https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/senate/wa/louise_pratt) moved that that part should be opposed, [explaining that](https://www.openaustralia.org.au/senate/?id=2018-05-09.4.2) the Labor Party was concerned *"that the retrospective application of amended child support assessments will have negative consequences"*. Read more about [the bill](http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:legislation/billhome/r5976) and what it does in the [bills digest](https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/bd/bd1718a/18bd079). — 2018-05-09, Senate: affirmative, ayes 37, noes 33
- The majority voted against [amendments](https://www.openaustralia.org.au/senate/?gid=2018-05-09.11.1) introduced by Senator [Louise Pratt](https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/senate/wa/louise_pratt), which means they failed. The amendments related to the new ability of the Child Support Registrar to retrospectively change a child support assessment. Senator Pratt [explained that](https://www.openaustralia.org.au/senate/?gid=2018-05-09.11.1): > *It is simply not fair for a parent who has received child support in good faith and has spent it on their children to find out that, through no fault of their own, that money must now be repaid. It is simply unsustainable for us to consider having such a big impact on a family's ability to meet the cost of living. This is why we are moving this amendment today to part 2 of schedule 1 of the bill to attempt to deal with this issue ... This amendment permits the Child Support Registrar to change a child support assessment, following the amendment of an income tax assessment, prospectively and retrospectively in limited circumstances. A child support assessment can only be made retrospective if either the amendment was due to fraud or evasion or the registrar is satisfied that changing the administrative assessment retrospectively would not cause the parent unjustified financial hardship, having regard to the financial situation of the other parent.* Read more about the changes made by [the bill](http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:legislation/billhome/r5976) in the [bills digest](https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/bd/bd1718a/18bd079). — 2018-05-09, Senate: negative, ayes 33, noes 36
Plain-language summary
No machine-written summary in this export.
Sources
em
em supp
em supp
em revised
billhome
frl act