9. JUDITH COLLINS (National—Clevedon) Link to this
to the Minister of Revenue
Is he satisfied with the level of child support collected from liable parents during the last financial year; if so, why?
Hon PETER DUNNE (Minister of Revenue) Link to this
I am never satisfied when there is at least one custodial parent or one child not receiving a full payment from a liable parent. But I believe that the Inland Revenue Department is doing an excellent job, given the practicalities of the world in which we live.
Why has core child support debt, excluding any interest or penalties, more than doubled under this Labour Government from $192 million in the year 2000 to $456 million today, bringing the total debt to nearly $1.2 billion?
The member is actually confusing some figures. The total debt of $1.1 billion includes the penalties and other payments that she said were excluded in her question. The reality is that 88.5 percent of all child support collected since 1992 has been collected. The figures are improving. We are also assessing more people, which of course means that the amount to be collected will increase.
Can the Minister confirm that over 16,000 liable parents are not resident in New Zealand and that, combined, they owe half a billion dollars; and what action would he like to see taken to ensure that these parents meet their obligations to their New Zealand – based children?
I can confirm that at March of this year we had some 8,000 New Zealand cases being collected in Australia. After the commencement of the reciprocal agreement with Australia in March 2007 of this year, the Inland Revenue Department has collected around $23.1 million for Australian parents and around $28.4 million from Australian parents. Obviously, we need to do more. Legislation before the House at the moment will enable us to do more in the way of data matching when people enter and leave New Zealand, which in turn will improve the ability to track those parents who are offshore and to make them meet their liabilities.
Does the Minister agree with me that child support debtors should be prevented from leaving this country, or does he share the view of David Cunliffe, who said in 2003 that it would be “Draconian” to stop liable parents from leaving the country; is the Minister serious about this situation or not?
When we have the data matching in place we will be better able to track who is coming and going. But I point out to the House that we cannot detain New Zealanders at the border and stop them from leaving this country, unless we have a warrant issued for that purpose. I am not sure whether the member is suggesting that all child support debtors should have a warrant issued against their departure from New Zealand. That would mean that we were placing them in a different category from any other person leaving this country with an unpaid debt.
How can it be fair for defaulting liable parents to be able to come and go from New Zealand as they please, for the Inland Revenue Department to consistently not use its power to apply for arrest warrants, and for responsible parents to be left to shoulder the burden while this Government sits around worrying about the travel rights of people who fail their children?
The last thing that it would be responsible to do would be to start issuing arrest warrants for liable parents. Parents in that situation are in a very fraught, tense situation as it is. The differences and divisions between liable parents and custodial parents are very tense and bitter. If the member wants to start adding to that by introducing the concept of arrest warrants for parents who seek to leave the country, then I think she is simply escalating a tense situation far beyond what is reasonable to most people.
I seek leave to table United Future’s policy on this issue, which was to stop them leaving the country.
Madam SPEAKER