The Albanese Government has released a report that sheds light on a disturbing trend among users of Private Collect. Private Collect, defined by Government Services as a service for “parents who don’t need much help from us [the government] to agree on a plan,” is a method of child support payment that has it so that both parties manage and organise child support payments amongst themselves.
Unfortunately, it is within this flexibility that Private Collect has become rife with exploitation. According to the Survey of Separated Parents commissioned by the Department of Social Services in 2025, 52% percent of parents utilising Private Collect were receiving less than what they were entitled to receiving from the other parent, with 15% of these being received late or “rarely”. Whilst these stats would be alarming in isolation, further investigation sees the situation worsen – 17% of responders reported that their Private Collect payments were “never” received on time, and 15% never at all.
In Short
- A 2025 government survey reveals 52 per cent of parents using the Private Collect system receive less child support than they are entitled to.
- Up to 80 per cent of women surveyed believe former partners use the loosely regulated system to continue financial abuse and control post-separation.
- Current Family Tax Benefit calculations assume child support has been paid in full, inadvertently penalising parents who are victims of withheld payments.
- Warringah MP Zali Steggall has slammed the current model as "failing too many families," demanding urgent systemic reform from the federal government.
The question of how this trend emerged is one with a plausible, if disheartening answer. As of 2022, 85% of those receiving child support payments were women, and 75% of those who had near-full custody of their children throughout the year. This extremely high gendered skew towards women as those in need of support is unsurprising, with 4 in 5 family domestic violence cases having male perpetrators. Violence, in over half of these cases, was physical – including assault, with the remainder pertaining to other forms.
Statistics such as these suggest that perceived threat from their partner, whether that be physical or emotional, could be a key reason as to why these exploitation has become so widespread.
An anonymous mother (referred to as Leah) speaking to the ABC says, “I was too scared to do agency collection because the threat was, ‘If you force me to pay child support, I’ll take him [her son] half the time.”
The reality of domestic and family violence cases seems to be that abuse cannot be stopped simply due to how many forms it can take.
A report from 2023 states that 80% of women believed their “ex-partner had replaced physical abuse with financial abuse via child support as a way to control them since they separated.”
“Financial abuse can continue, long after separation,” it goes on to say.
Leah has decided to make the decision recently to change to agency collection, in part due to the way the Australian Government inadvertently exacerbates her ex-husband’s abuse. The Australian Family Tax Benefit is calculated under the assumption that all child support has been received, meaning that the 15% of Australians surveyed who do not receive repayments from their partners whilst using Private Collect are forced to pay for money they never got.
Fortunately, awareness and calls to action surrounding these issues seems to be on the rise. In 2025, a Commonwealth Ombudsman’s report was released to ABC News, which found that Service Australia was “plac[ing]… parents at a double disadvantage — in effect amplifying the impact of the financial abuse they are suffering through the actions of their former partner” through their current system, and made recommendations as for how they can fix these issues; which they have agreed to.
Zali Steggal, Independent MP believes that whilst these changes and budgetary increases towards child support are a good step forward, more needs to be done.
“The government has been presented with clear evidence that the current system is failing too many families.”
“These findings show these are not isolated experiences — they are systemic issues that demand reform.”
