Media Releases

14 August 2026

Australia’s child support system is being used to pressure and coerce women, official data shows, leaving mothers financially vulnerable and afraid to seek the support they and their children are entitled to receive.

As reported by the ABC, the Albanese government quietly released its Survey of Separated Parents in late June. It reveals in disturbing detail how Australia’s child support system is being used to harm women and children.

The survey was commissioned by the Department of Social Services. Analysis by Single Mother Families Australia (SMFA) shows how “Private Collect” – in which child support is transferred directly between parents rather than via the agency – is being used by the paying parent as a tool of coercion and financial abuse.

Half of all families – including around 500,000 children - rely on child support received through Private Collect.

The SMFA analysis shows:

      Almost 1 in 5 recipients in Private Collect had agreed to the arrangement to   avoid conflict with or violence from a former partner

-         More than half of recipients (52%) in Private Collect were underpaid - on   average by $2,000 a year

-         1 in 4 recipients in Private Collect received no money each year

-         1 in 3 reported never, sometimes or rarely receiving child support.

Community Strong Warringah MP Zali Steggall said the government’s own evidence showed the urgent need for child support reform to protect parents and children from exploitation by former partners.

“The child support system is broken if a parent can use money owed to their children as a bargaining tool, a threat or a way to maintain control,” Steggall said. “These findings show these are not isolated experiences - they are systemic issues that demand reform."

The SMFA also found that interaction with the Family Tax Benefit (FTB) was one of the greatest injustices of the child support scheme. The system reduces FTB based on child support that is expected to be paid - even when it isn't - meaning many single-parent families lose both child support and government assistance at the same time.

SMFA chief executive Terese Edwards said when child support is not paid, or Family Tax Benefit is cut unfairly, a child misses out.

“It means parents – usually mothers – are often faced with a situation where they cannot pay rent, buy groceries or cover school expenses,” Edwards said. “We need a child support system that prevents coercion and ensures children receive the financial support they are owed.”

Steggall said child support reforms announced in the Federal Budget were an important step but further action was needed.

“The government has been presented with clear evidence that the current system is failing too many families,” Steggall said. “Child support must be about protecting children, not creating another avenue for control and abuse after separation.”

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

According to the government’s own Survey of Separated Parents:

-          “The risk of violence from the other parent appeared to have a substantial impact on decision-making about child support arrangements.”

-          “… unequal power dynamics were commonly reported between separated parents, even in the absence of reported instances of family and domestic violence.”

-          Parents who had changed from Agency Collect to Private Collect were “often persuaded or pressured to make the transition by the other parent.”

-          For those who wanted to change from Private to Agency Collect, the “major barrier that parents reported was the perception of a negative response from the other parent and a wish to maintain amicable relationships.”

-          “In some instances, parents reported that Private Collect arrangements had deteriorated and ultimately resulted in non-payment over time.”

-           “Typically, parents who had experienced a child support debt being owed to them were unlikely to feel that Services Australia were able to enforce payment by the other parent.”