Overdue child support debt up more than 30 per cent since 2007
Updated
Nearly $1.6 billion in overdue child support is now owed by parents shirking their financial responsibility to their children according to government figures.
After adjusting for inflation, total overdue child support remaining unpaid at the end of each financial year has increased in all but one of the past 10 years. Overall, total child support debt is up more than 30 per cent since 2007.
The Federal Government has been spruiking its success using departure prohibition orders (DPOs) to recover child support owed. But travel bans recover only a tiny fraction of total outstanding debt — just 0.63 per cent last financial year.
A Department of Human Services spokesperson told the ABC DPOs are "used as a last resort", however they were unable to provide figures for other debt recovery methods used or a total for how much overdue debt is recovered each year.
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Topics: family-and-children, parenting, australia
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