The non-payment of child support is a deeply gendered issue and remains an unrecognised form of economic abuse by many Australian Government agencies and financial institutions. The report reveals extensive evidence of the way fathers are using child support as a weapon to perpetrate ongoing gendered violence against mothers.

The current system for child-support in Australia intends for one parent to pay money to another for the purpose of supporting their shared child/ren, following separation. In reality, women – who are often the primary caregivers of children in separation agreements – are regularly denied their child-support entitlements by paying fathers and face little to no course of redress under the current complex system.

Clients of Women’s Legal Services from across Australia describe the child-support system as a ‘tool of violence’, Women’s Legal Services Australia Executive Officer, Lara Freidin says, where perpetrators of violence can simply continue their abuse under the system by withholding payments, often without penalty. (From the website). Record #8735