Madan and Madan (Child support)

This matter concerned an appeal by the applicant, Madan, against a decision of the Child Support Registrar regarding the date of effect of an application for an administrative assessment of child support. The dispute centred on whether the application, lodged online, should be considered to have been lodged on an earlier date than that determined by the Registrar.

The primary legal issue before the court was to determine the correct date of effect for the applicant's application for an administrative assessment of child support, specifically whether the online lodgement on a particular date constituted the date of application for the purposes of the relevant legislation.

The court considered the provisions of the *Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988* (Cth) and the *Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989* (Cth), as well as relevant regulations and administrative practices concerning online lodgement of applications. The court found that the online lodgement system was designed to record the date of submission, and that the applicant's evidence established that the application was successfully lodged on the earlier date. Consequently, the court determined that the Registrar's decision was erroneous.

The court set aside the decision under review and substituted an order that the application for administrative assessment be taken to have been lodged on the earlier date.