Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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CHILD SUPPORT REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1991 NO. 81

STATUTORY RULES 1991 No. 81

ISSUED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE TREASURER

CHILD SUPPORT REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)

The purpose of these regulations is to prescribe matters that are required or permitted to be prescribed, or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for giving effect to the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989, provided they are not inconsistent with the Act.

The Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988 was the first part of a legislative package which aimed to reform child support so as to reduce the number of children in poverty and to make sure that parents with a capacity to pay do not leave it to the social security system to support their children.

The second part of the legislative package is the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 which enables parents to have child support amounts administratively assessed, or to make a child support agreement, rather than going to court

Notes on the regulations to be amended are set out below.

INFLATION FACTOR

Each parent's income is taken into account in a child support assessment. The income amount used is taxable income two financial years before the child support year, but adjusted by the Inflation Factor to take into account inflation.

Regulation 6 prescribes the Inflation Factor to be applied to taxable income for each child support year. The amendment to the regulation updates the table of inflation factor figures to include the year ending June 1992. The Inflation Factor applicable to that year will be 1.07.

CONVERSION OF ANNUAL RATES INTO DAILY RATES OF PAYMENT

Section 69 of the Act requires that when the Registrar assesses the annual rate of child support payable, the rate must then be converted to a daily rate in accordance with the Regulations. The amendment to regulation 8 makes it clear that the conversion under this regulation is for the purposes of section 69 of the Act.