Oxby and Kilner (Child support)

This matter concerned an appeal by the father, Mr Oxby, against a decision of the Child Support Registrar concerning the assessment of child support payable for his two children. The dispute centred on the father's income, specifically whether certain payments received by him should be included as assessable income for child support purposes. The appeal was heard by Member Kennedy of the Child Support Australia.

The primary legal issue before the Member was whether payments received by the father from his employer, described as "redundancy payments" and "long service leave payments," constituted "income" for the purposes of the *Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988* (Cth) and the *Child Support Assessment Act 1989* (Cth). The father contended that these were one-off payments and not regular income, and therefore should not be included in his child support assessment.

Member Kennedy considered the nature of the payments and the relevant legislative provisions. The Member noted that the legislation defines "income" broadly and includes payments received by a liable parent in relation to their employment. The Member found that both the redundancy payments and the long service leave payments were derived from the father's employment and were therefore assessable income for child support purposes. The Member reasoned that the characterisation of the payments as "redundancy" or "long service leave" did not alter their origin as payments arising from employment.

The appeal was dismissed, and the Child Support Registrar's assessment was upheld.