Child Support and Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Ending Financial Abuse in the Child Support Scheme No. 1) Bill 2026
Submission Date: 9 October 2026
The Family Law Section of the Law Council of Australia (the Section) welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee’s inquiry into the Child Support and Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Ending Financial Abuse in the Child Support Scheme No. 1) Bill 2026 (the Bill).
The Section supports the objective of the Bill, which is to strengthen protections within the child support scheme and reduce opportunities for systems and financial abuse. The Bill responds to, among other reviews, the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s June 2025 report Weaponising Child Support: when the system fails families.1
The Section largely supports Schedules 2 and 3 of the Bill. Its comments are directed mainly to Schedule 1 and concern procedural fairness, access to merits review, and the undefined terms on which the new discretions depend.
In this submission, the Assessment Act is the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 (Cth), the Registration and Collection Act is the Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988 (Cth), and EM is the Explanatory Memorandum to the Bill.
1 Commonwealth Ombudsman, Weaponising Child Support: when the system fails families (June 2025).
Last Updated on 14/10/2026