Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
Licence needed for work use Learn More

Gordon Campbell | Parliament TV | Parliament Today | News Video | Crime | Employers | Housing | Immigration | Legal | Local Govt. | Maori | Welfare | Unions | Youth | Search

 

Collins perpetuates child support debt myth


Judith Collins perpetuates child support debt myth for cheap political gain.

“To avoid misleading the public Judith Collins needs to do some basic maths and learn some fundamental analysis skills before she continues with perpetuating the child support debt myth. Responded Mark Shipman, National President of Parents for Children, in response to National’s announced moves to target child support payments.

“Ms Collins knows that well over half of this alleged debt is derived from the punitive penalty regime that National created when they enacted the Child Support Act 1991 and that these penalties go straight to the government coffers not to children. What’s more Parents for Children believes that the bulk of the alleged debt is bogus or caused by the systemic process failure within the Inland Revenue Department”. Commented Shipman.

“Take the case of John, a father of a severely disabled child who was in full time institutional care. For close to four years IRD hounded John, seeking payment of “child support” to recover a benefit payment made to the child’s mother. John had an alleged debt of about $25,000 with IRD and despite lawyer’s letters and an MP’s intervention IRD refused to acknowledge they had made a mistake. This is one of many examples of systemic process failure in IRD that create this alleged debt figure.” Commented Shipman when asked for examples of the bogus component of alleged Child Support debt.

“Instead of trying to beat up on parents for a cheap media gain in election year, National should be promoting solutions that are in the best interest of our children: presumptive shared parenting and a fair and reasonable child support system.” Concluded Shipman


Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

© Scoop Media

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
 
 
 
Parliament Headlines | Politics Headlines | Regional Headlines

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

LATEST HEADLINES

  • PARLIAMENT
  • POLITICS
  • REGIONAL
 
 

Featured News Channels


 
 
 
 

Join Our Free Newsletter

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.