The child support system is so fundamentally flawed it actually puts women at risk for financial abuse, even after leaving an abusive relationship, according to Single Mother Families Australia. 

The report, Opening the Black Box of Child Support, based on research by Terese Edwards, CEO of SMFA, and Kay Cook, Adreinne Byrt and Ashlea Coen, was launched in Canberra this month at Parliament House. It reflects the voices of 675 single mothers and reveals how child support payment systems facilitate financial abuse and coercion by paying partners.  

Withholding child support payments or minimising reported income impacts the financial wellbeing and safety of single mother families.  Around 500,000 Australian children are shortchanged by $17B.  More than 28% of payers are failing to lodge tax returns, in a bid to lower their child support payments.  This financial abuse compounds the domestic violence that these single mothers have frequently sought to escape. The system is not working for single mothers or their children.

BPW Darwin member Mary Linnell spoke at the launch, and it was attended by BPWA President Gillian Lewis and Director of Policy Ronnie Gurung.