Written evidence to be reported to the House
Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill
12:00 pm
Professor Wikeley: Yes I do. It is fair to say that the agency and the Department are aware of what the Australian agency has been doing in that regard.
I preface my comments by saying that the Australian system is deeply unpopular—it is as unpopular as ours. The difference is that, by and large, it works, although it has some wrinkles. For instance, it is not that good on self-employed cases, but show me a child support system that is. The difference is that although Australia has a system that works, it is hugely unpopular because, of course, it requires people to pay money in circumstances in which they would rather not pay.