Skip to main content

This petition was submitted during the 2015 to 2017 Parliament

View other petitions from this Parliament

Closed petition Charge non-resident parents who evade child support payments with child neglect.

Closed on

Current legislation does not recognise non-payment of child support as neglect. After a year of non-compliance separate criminal charges should be brought against such non-resident parents for child neglect.

Resident parents should also be able to prosecute non-compliant NRP for financial abuse.

Figures from 2011 indicate that 95.2% of parents who approached the Child Support Agency in order to access their legal entitlement for child maintenance were female. The failure to collect rates are astonishing. It is therefore a gender inequality issue.
This social injustice needs to be urgently addressed.The far reaching repercussions have to be legally recognised for both the parent with care and the child/ren when one parent fails to support their child/ren.
It is neglect and abuse.

891 signatures


Petition progress

View all updates for this petition, with the most recent first.

  • Petition closed

  • Petition published

    This petition can now be signed.

    If this petition gets 10,000 signatures, government will respond to it.

    If this petition gets 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for debate in Parliament.

    This petition will stay open until 7 October 2016.