Bradford Sue: Child Support Amendment Bill (No 4) — Third Reading 
Bradford Sue: Child Support Amendment Bill (No 4) — Third Reading 
[Volume:634;Page:5388] 
SUE BRADFORD (Green) 
: 
 The Green Party supports the third reading of the Child Support Amendment Bill (No 4). I am well aware that this bill does not provide the wide range of improvements to New Zealand’s child support regime that many of the people who came to make submissions to us at the Social Services Committee wanted. However it makes some limited reforms to the system which we think are desirable. 
Those reforms include working to improve the level of compliance with obligations so that more children receive the support to which they are entitled. They also include new provisions for the write-off of penalty debt extending the existing provisions for ensuring that a parent’s liability accurately reflects that parent’s ability to provide help for his or her children and also putting into place a new appeal right that will look to provide greater fairness between applicants and respondents subsequent to an administrative review. The bill also adds to the list of those exempt from paying child support by including liable parents under 16 years of age—and unfortunately we still have a number of those—victims of sex offences and also people who are in prison or in hospital long term within certain income limits. All of those changes seem sensible and deal with the practicalities of implementing earlier versions of the Child Support Act 1991. 
During the consideration of the bill I was particularly interested in issues around the extension of the ability of the Inland Revenue Department to inquire into the validity of exemptions or determinations made especially in situations where for example it is suspected that the liable parent’s real income and/or assets are much higher than stated. I think everyone in the House—and we have heard a number of speeches on this already—is probably aware of circumstances where people have dodged or continue to dodge their responsibilities to their children through the use of various mechanisms totally geared towards hiding their true worth. 
Although I have a lot of sympathy for the predicament some liable parents find themselves in I do not extend that to those who adopt legal and financial structures that reduce or hide—often completely or massively—their visible taxable income thereby defeating the intent of the Act and I think the moral purpose that most of us in this House have that parents should take some responsibility within their means for the children that they produce. The new measures put in place by this bill will enable the Inland Revenue Department to initiate a process that looks into the reality of someone’s earning capacity and his or her property and financial resources. 
I realise that many submitters will be unhappy with this bill because it has not dealt with their deep and genuinely felt concerns about some of the problems around the way our child support system operates in practice especially when there is a situation where parents share the care of a child. However in fact many of the submissions covered matters that fall outside the scope of this amending bill—for example matters in relation to the way contribution payments are assessed and what should happen to liable parents who find themselves in real hardship. Those and other issues raised by submitters are worthy of ongoing debate and review. 
I think there are certain areas of our child support law that do need further amendment. For example I have a great deal of sympathy for those who argue that there should be a lot more flexibility reality and fairness in how contributions are calculated in some specific situations. Those matters however are complex and deserve attention in their own right. We were not able to do that within the consideration process of this particular bill at the select committee. The Green Party will be interested to hear whether the Government has any intention to further review and amend the child support framework at any time in the near future. 
Meanwhile we are happy to support the bill in front of us tonight. We will be voting for it accordingly.