Now lawFamily & Community Introduced in the House of Representatives, 05 Feb 2026

Child support law now matches what Services Australia does

Services Australia had been running some child support and payment rules in ways the law did not allow. This law changes the law to match. It backdates some fixes and sets clear rules for getting Centrelink money early in a crisis.

Official name: Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Technical Changes No. 1) Bill 2026

Who it affects

• Separated parents with child support: A new amount worked out after the 15th starts on the first day of the month after next. A parent with under 35% care cannot get child support.
• Parents who lost out on child support under the old law: Some with under 35% care were legally owed money but not paid. This law takes that right away back to 2008, with no payment for the loss.
• People on Centrelink payments: They can ask for an urgent payment of $20 to $200 from money they have already built up in the fortnight.
• Couples where one partner works: The working partner's wages count when working out the other partner's payment, even if the worker gets no Centrelink.

Agency broke child support law

Services Australia is the agency that runs Centrelink and child support. It had been making some decisions in ways that did not match the law. This law changes the law to match what the agency was doing.

The federal complaints officer (the Commonwealth Ombudsman) looked into one of these problems. This officer checks how government agencies treat people.

In January 2026 the officer reported that Services Australia knew for years it was not following child support law. It chose not to.

The officer said that is not OK. The rule of law and trust in government depend on agencies following the law. The rule of law is the idea that everyone, even the government, must obey the law.

The Parliamentary Library works for all MPs and takes no side. Its guide to the bill says this law is one of a series of fixes for unlawful government decisions.

As at November 2025, Services Australia had found 144 cases where it was not following the law. This law deals with two of them.

When new child support starts

Child support is worked out in set periods. A new period usually starts when the Tax Office works out a parent's income. The official in charge of child support then works out a new amount.

The law said the new amount had to start on the first day of the next month. That often gave parents less than 14 days' warning.

For years, the official had started amounts worked out after the 15th a month later. This law makes that the rule.

Say your tax result arrives on 20 September. Your new child support amount starts on 1 November, not 1 October. That gives you more time to plan your spending.

Past decisions made this way now count as valid. Court cases already decided are not changed.

No support under 35% care

Child support has an old rule. A parent or carer who looks after a child less than 35% of the time should not get child support. The idea is that they do not carry enough of the daily costs.

Two of the six child support formulas did not always do this. It went wrong when both parents and a third person cared for a child, so neither parent had over 65% care.

It also went wrong because of a 2018 change. That change was about care changes that are reported late.

Under the 2018 change, the parent whose care went down is updated from the date of the change. The parent whose care went up is only updated from the date Services Australia is told. In the gap, the parent doing most of the caring could be made to pay the other parent.

Say a child moved to live mostly with Parent A in March. This was only reported in November. Under the old law, Parent B had 25% care. Parent B could still have been owed child support by Parent A for those months.

This law fixes the formulas back to 1 July 2008. A person with under 35% care can never get child support. Past decisions that followed this rule now count as valid.

Rules for urgent payments

Centrelink money builds up each day and is paid every 14 days. An urgent payment lets you get part of what you have built up early. It is for a rare problem you could not have seen coming. It is not extra money.

In 2024-25, about 440,000 people got around 1 million urgent payments. The government says 45% went to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It says 16% went to people in remote Australia.

This law puts urgent payments clearly in the law. You must say you face a rare problem you could not have seen coming. You must ask for between $20 and $200. You can get at most one urgent payment a day.

The most you can get is half of what you have built up so far. Planned take-outs come off first. So do any urgent payments already made that fortnight. The urgent payment itself cannot be cut to pay back debts.

Say Rachel gets $793.60 a fortnight on JobSeeker, the main unemployment payment. She has $250 taken out for other things. On day 9 she can get up to $130.11 early. If she takes $100, she gets $443.60 on payday.

A computer can make the decision, but a person can ask for a human to look again. Anyone who gets 10 urgent payments in 90 days must talk to a staff member before getting more. If your income turns out higher than you thought, the urgent payment can become a debt.

Counting a partner's wages

Centrelink uses an income test to work out how much you get. Your payment goes down as your income goes up. Wages are spread across the days they were earned.

The law did not clearly say this applies to a partner's wages. This was most unclear when the partner gets no Centrelink payment. This law says it does, for both pensions and other payments.

If you split up with your partner, their wages stop counting for the days you are no longer a couple.

The law also makes clear that spread-out wages still count in two cases. One is if your payment is stopped and started again. The other is if you claim a new payment. These changes apply to wages paid after the law started.

Start date

This bill is now law. It was brought to the House of Representatives on 5 February 2026. The House passed it on 12 February 2026.

The Senate passed it on 1 April 2026. The Senate is the second house of Parliament, which checks bills. The Governor-General signed it into law the same day. The Governor-General is the King's stand-in in Australia. It became Act No. 30 of 2026.

The child support and income test changes started the next day. The urgent payment rules start on a date the government sets. That must be no later than 1 April 2027. This gives Services Australia time to update its systems and train staff.

How they voted

Its journey through Parliament

Official sources

• Bill page on aph.gov.au
• Text of the bill
• Explanatory memorandum
• Bills Digest

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