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Child-support evaders risk jail
By Frank Cassidy

People who use fraud to avoid paying child-support payments could face jail under proposed amendments to the Family Law Act.

A spokeswoman for the Attorney-General, Daryl Williams, said the new powers given to the court would allow it to impose a sentence only in cases where it was satisfied the contravention was wilful or fraudulent.

"The change was recommended by the 1992 Joint Standing Committee on Certain Family Issues, and the Government decided it was an appropriate way to deal with very serious breaches," he said.

Official figures showed 494,534 Australian families were subject to child-support orders in 1997-98, covering 920,443 children.

The proposed amendments have angered men's groups, who have labelled it "police-state tactics" and a return to "debtors' prison".

Passed by the House of Representatives in September, the Family Law Amendment Bill 1999 is being considered by the Senate's Legal and Constitutional Committee, which is due to report by November 29.

Planned amendments would give the proposed new Federal Court magistrates the power to deal with family law matters and to jail those it considers fail to meet their child-support obligations due to "wilful or fraudulent" causes.

The director of the Men's Rights Agency, Sue Price, said she was appalled by the prospect of jail for parents, especially as the child-support system perpetuated biases against many who did not have custody of their children.

"This, we fear, is just the beginning of the push for heavier penalties," Mrs Price said.

She said the courts and Child Support Agency already had extensive powers to deal with defaulters, and "it is wrong to target people not paying child support for whatever reason. There is more to the child support issue than appears on face value."

Mrs Price pointed to the Child Support Agency's practice of deeming that some paying parents earned higher incomes than they actually did, and then creating a debt when payments proved unreachable.

"This deeming process is producing debts that cannot be serviced.

"I don't think jail is an option.

"Surely this Government does not want to return to the bad old days of debtors' prison."

National director of the Lone Fathers' Association, Barry Williams, endorsed part of Mrs Price's concerns, saying he was surprised the Government would pass such legislation.

"I'm a great believer that people should support their children, but if they set up their businesses to stop paying at all, they should be penalised," Mr Williams said.

He rejected the Government's plan to jail defaulters which he described as a "police state" and a common occurrence in the 1970s and 80s before the introduction of the child-support laws.

Mr Williams said there were many more urgent improvements needed in the laws governing child support, including calculating payments from after-tax income, enforcing access arrangements, and allowing people in second marriages to get on with their lives.