Child Support and Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Ending Financial Abuse in the Child Support Scheme No. 1) Bill 2026

Summary

Amends the: Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 and Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988 to: enable the Child Support Registrar to refuse certain child support and change of assessment applications where they may cause harm, and summarily dismiss certain objections; and replace mandatory document exchange requirements in change of assessment and objection processes with other information exchange arrangements; A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999 to: make a consequential amendment in relation to summarily dismissed objections concerning care percentage decisions; and allow the recovery of certain Family Tax Benefit debts to be temporarily paused; and Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988 to: expand the collection of child support debts, arrears and overpayments by the registrar, including those arising from retrospective variations during periods of private collection; and enable payers to apply for child support to be collected by the registrar; and Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 to enable eligible parents in specified overseas jurisdictions to apply directly to Services Australia for an Australian child support assessment.