GZBC and Child Support Registrar (Child support second review)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered an application by GZBC (the Applicant) for review of a decision concerning the percentage of care for two children. The dispute arose from a notification by the Applicant to the Child Support Registrar regarding a change in the children's care arrangements, which led to a variation of the existing child support assessment. The Other Party subsequently lodged an objection to this variation, which was initially allowed by the Registrar, who found special circumstances for the late objection and backdated the change in care. The AAT then reviewed this decision.

The primary legal issues before the Tribunal were whether the existing determination of the percentage of care should be revoked, and if so, from what date. Further, the Tribunal had to determine what the percentage of care ought to be under a new determination and from what date any such new determination should take effect. These questions necessitated an examination of the relevant provisions of the *Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988* (Cth) concerning objections to care percentage decisions and the circumstances under which late objections may be permitted.

The Tribunal's reasoning focused on the interpretation of section 87AA of the *Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988* (Cth), which governs the date of effect of objections relating to care percentage decisions. While the Registrar had initially found special circumstances to allow the Other Party's objection to be backdated to 6 February 2017, the AAT set aside this finding. The AAT determined that no special circumstances prevented the Other Party from lodging her objection within the prescribed 28-day period. Consequently, the date of effect for the allowed care percentage decision was substituted to 28 November 2018, the date the objection was lodged. The Tribunal affirmed the objection officer's decision that there had been no change in care.