Passey and Passey (Child support)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered the dispute between Passey and Passey concerning the percentage of care for a child. The applicant, Passey, sought to have the percentage of care attributed to them varied, arguing that the initial assessment did not accurately reflect the likely pattern of care from the commencement of the administrative assessment.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the percentage of care should be determined solely by the number of nights the child spent with each parent, or if other forms of care, not directly measured in nights, ought to be taken into account. The Tribunal was required to interpret the relevant provisions of the *Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988* (Cth) and associated regulations concerning the calculation of care percentages.

The Tribunal affirmed the original decision, reasoning that the legislative framework for determining care percentages primarily focuses on the number of nights a child spends with each parent. While acknowledging that other forms of care exist, the Tribunal found that the legislation did not provide for the consideration of these other forms of care when establishing the initial percentage of care. Therefore, the applicant's argument that non-night-based care should influence the percentage was not accepted. The decision under review was affirmed.