Australia’s child support system was introduced by the Hawke government in 1988. Since that time, it has undergone various incremental reforms such that the system as it stands in 2021 at times seems to work contrary to the well-being of children and their parents.

Renowned expert on such matters, Professor Patrick Parkinson, from the University of Queensland Law School, says the introduction of the child support system in Australia was not only to ensure adequate provision of support for children, but was also ‘largely driven by the need to ensure … that private transfers of money from fathers to mothers [were...