Murdoch and Crutcher (Child support)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the dispute between Murdoch and Crutcher concerning child support payments. The core of the disagreement involved whether certain hospital costs paid by the liable parent should be credited against their child support liability. The liable parent had undertaken to pay these hospital costs in addition to their assessed child support obligations.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether the refusal to credit the non-agency payment, specifically the hospital costs, against the child support liability was correct. This involved an examination of the relevant provisions of the *Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988* and associated regulations concerning payments made outside the agency's direct collection process.

The Tribunal affirmed the decision under review, finding that the hospital costs paid by the liable parent were not to be credited against their child support liability. The reasoning centred on the nature of the undertaking and the statutory framework governing child support payments, which generally requires payments to be made through the agency to be recognised as satisfying the child support debt. The Tribunal applied the principles that payments made directly to a payee or for expenses not specifically authorised for credit do not discharge the liable parent's obligation to the agency.