Anger at tips on how to duck child support

HAVE more kids, become selfemployed, donate to charities and hire a good accountant — these are “legal” ways, deadbeat dads and miserly mums avoid supporting their children, a former government bean counter says.

Australian kids are owed more than $1.57 billion in unpaid child support, News Corp has learnt.

Fathers continue to be the main offenders, carrying $1.5 billion of the debt compared with the $56.3 million owed by mothers, Department of Human Services data shows.

About $39.9 million of the debt is carried by people of unknown gender.

Helping people avoid these debts is Andrew Lancaster’s online How To Avoid Child Support Legally.

The list has drawn widespread ire, with key fathers’ rights and mothers’ rights activists and a leading academic blasting the guide as “disgraceful” and “irresponsible”.

The 12-point list is published on the privately-run Child Support Australia website.

Dr Lancaster is the Child Support Australia project leader. His LinkedIn profile says he was an economist with the federal Department of Finance and served as director of the Department of Industry.

“Our research showed that people search for information using terms such as how to get out of child support,” Dr Lancaster said.

“So, it’s a topic people are interested in,” he said.

“We guide people on how to manage child support in a responsible way, which is fairly obvious from the article’s content.

“We’re extremely comfortable in providing that content.”

Lone Fathers Association of Australia president Barry Williams urged CSA to remove the guide, saying all parents needed to take financial responsibility for their children.

“That list should be pulled down,” Mr Williams said.

“We would not support this, it is irresponsible.”