Haselhurst and Haley (Child support)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered an application by Haselhurst (the applicant) concerning a child support administrative assessment. The dispute centred on the respondent's (Haley) estimated income for the purposes of calculating child support liability. The applicant sought to have the respondent's estimated income accepted by the AAT.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the respondent's estimated income, as provided to the Child Support Registrar, should have been accepted as the basis for the administrative assessment. This required the Tribunal to determine the appropriate approach to estimating a party's income in child support matters when precise figures are unavailable.

The Tribunal affirmed the decision under review, finding that the estimate of income provided by the respondent should not have been accepted. The Tribunal applied the principle that an estimate of income should only be accepted where there is a reasonable basis for it, and that the onus is on the party providing the estimate to demonstrate its reasonableness. In this instance, the Tribunal was not satisfied that the respondent had provided sufficient evidence or justification for the estimated figure.