Single mothers should not be forced to chase down child-support debts from their abusers, domestic violence campaigners say.
The child support system is being gamed by perpetrators to weaponise payments and inflict financial and psychological harm, research released on Tuesday found, including by minimising income and falsely reporting time spent caring for kids.
The report recommended making the Australian Tax Office responsible for collecting child support payments and chasing down debts, so that victims don't have to deal with their abusers themselves.
The child support system is ripe for reform, said former Australian of the Year and family violence survivor Rosie Batty.
"This must return responsibility to the ATO to chase debts, rather than women experiencing violence being forced to pursue, through their own perpetrators, the financial support they should be getting for their children," she said.
Most women entering the system were leaving violent relationships and the system should be designed with that in mind, the report by Swinburne University professor Kay Cook found.
The 700 single mothers surveyed broadly considered the child support system a failure when it came to exemptions, collecting debts and compliance.
Nearly four-in-five single mothers were experiencing violence at the time of separation, only to be stuck interacting with their ex-partners through the child support system.
"Child support needs to put the needs of victim survivors first," Professor Cook said.
"When women try to do what the system demands - by collecting payments - they face an increased risk of violence."
Child support and other government services exploited by domestic violence perpetrators are under review following a national cabinet meeting in September aimed at fast-tracking an end to gender-based violence.
A rise in violence has spurred federal and state governments to act, with more funding earmarked for better services and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese labelling it a national crisis.
Greens senator Larissa Waters called on the government to set a time-frame for its review and urgently tackle the issue.
"We are still yet to see reforms from any government to fix these gross loopholes which see women - often single mums, often who have escaped violence - sent further and further into poverty," she said.
One in 10 women had applied for an exemption from seeking child support on the basis it may lead to violence, the report found, with many unaware a failure to do so could lead to trimmed family payments.
Paying child support to single parents first and chasing up missed payments as a second-order priority was suggested by the researchers as a better system.
Removing the link between family payments and child support was also recommended.
Ms Batty met with federal ministers responsible for child support on Tuesday alongside fellow domestic violence campaigner Jess Hill, Single Mother Families Australia chief executive Terese Edwards and a number of single mothers.
"The data is clear - the child support system is not only failing, but it is being used as a tool of abuse," Ms Edwards said.
"With nearly $2 billion in private transfers going unaccounted for and over $1.7 billion in child support debt, this is a national crisis that demands urgent attention."
Children growing up with a single parent are more than three times as likely to experience poverty as those raised by couples.
Yet child support paid on time and in full could reduce childhood poverty by 21 per cent.
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