Subject: Conversations with Boys
From: "Fatherhood Foundation" <[email-masked]>
To: "Warwick Marsh" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2007 13:29:35 +1000

Issue No. 134-21st March,2005

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Welcome to fathersonline.org

Grandfathers

Laughter

Special Feature

Save the Males

Thought for the Week

News & Info

Dad's Prayer

Mission Statement & Help Us!

Welcome to fathersonline.org

Dear Warwick,

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Grandfathers

Until he extends his circle of compassion to include all living things, man will not himself find peace.

Albert Schweitzer

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Laughter

The teacher asked a boy if he knows his numbers. 'Yes,' he said. 'I do. My father taught me.'
'Good. What comes after three.'
'Four,' answers little boy.
'What comes after six?'
'Seven.'
'Very good,' says the teacher. 'Your dad did a good job. What comes after ten?'
The little boy smiled and said, 'Jack.'

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My wife told our 5 year old to put on clean underwear everyday, and he did just as he was told.
At the end of the week, he had on 5 pairs.

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Special Feature

WEST AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPER

Article on Child Support Agency, Monday 14th March 2005

Child support ideals sunk by bureaucracy BY: MARGOT LANG

Announced the taskforce's formation in August 2004.  The Child Support Agency, which began 15 years ago with high ideals, has turned into a costly bureaucratic nightmare which has failed to achieve any of its objectives.  Every dollar the CSA collects for child support costs $5.58, according to an analysis by the respected independent agency, PIR Independent Research.  PIR has calculated that the scheme costs taxpayers $5 billion a year in administration, increased welfare and lost taxation revenue.

The agony and frustration felt by many of the families who deal with the agency is reflected in the hundreds of letters which have poured into The West Australian in the past few weeks. It is the biggest response to any subject since the attack on New York's twin towers on September 11, 2001.  Politicians report that up to 30 per cent of their electoral time can be spent sorting out constituents' problems with the CSA. It is also the source of many complaints to the Commonwealth Ombudsman's office.

The CSA bureaucracy employs 3000 staff and costs $240 million a year. It deals with 1.28 million parents a year, affecting 1.1 million children, with more than $1.9 billion a year being transferred from non-custodial parents.   Two key objectives of the child support scheme are to reduce heavy social welfare payments by ensuring that both parents share in the cost of supporting their children and to ensure that incentives for both parents to participate in the workforce are not impaired.  But paying parents, 91 per cent of them fathers, are opting out of the workforce rather than lose up to 62 per cent of their after-tax wage on child support. And 80 per cent of payees are receiving government benefits.  The percentage of unemployed payers in the child support scheme in November 2003 was almost three times that in the general population: 15.8 per cent compared with 5.6 per cent. About 40 per cent of payers have incomes of $20,000 or less and are paying the minimum child support of $5 a week.  PIR has calculated that more than 70 per cent of all unemployed males in Australia over the age of 20 are child support payers.

A House of Representatives committee which investigated the child support scheme in 2003 reported that it was deeply concerned by the level of community dissatisfaction and distress associated with the scheme.  Among findings of the committee, chaired by Nationals MHR Kay Hull (Riverina, NSW):
. The scheme has serious flaws and produces inequities for a high number of payers and payees.
. It often creates hardship for second families, making them feel that these children are less important than those in the first family.
. A number of paying parents resort to leaving their jobs and going on to unemployment benefits to escape the demands of the CSA.
. The CSA is not keeping on top of the accumulating debt in the scheme. By the end of June 2003, the debt owed by payers was up to $844.1 million.

In its report in December 2003, the committee strongly recommended that a taskforce should overhaul the child support scheme as soon as possible, reporting no later than June 30, 2004.  It was not until August 2004 that Federal children's minister Larry Anthony announced the establishment of the taskforce, which has been asked to advise on the committee's recommendations and evaluate the workings of the child support scheme. Mr Anthony lost his seat at the last Federal election. The taskforce, headed by law professor Patrick Parkinson of Sydney University, is due to report this month.  As a short-term measure the parliamentary committee strongly urged the Government in December 2003 to implement a series of urgent changes.  These included doubling the minimum amount of child support from $5 to $10 a week, easing the payment formula, halving the amount payable on overtime earnings and second jobs, eliminating any direct link between the amount of child support and the time children spend with each parent, and giving extra enforcement powers to the CSA to toughen its collection powers.  More than a year later, not one of these proposals has been implemented. The beleaguered child support scheme continues unchanged and the complaints continue to mount.

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Save the Males

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Thought for the Week

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News & Info

Shock for Husbands-not Wives

DIVORCE comes as a shock to most husbands. Their wives are less surprised.Read more below:

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12570303-2,00.html

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Is there a turning of the tide?

Family Fare beats sex at the box office

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12590835%255E2702,00.html

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Dad's Prayer

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Mission Statement & Help Us!

Mission Statement
The Fatherhood Foundation is a charitable, non profit incorporated association with a goal to inspire men to a greater level of excellence as fathers, by encouraging and educating them, thereby renewing and empowering families.

Click here for more information about us

Help Us!

The Fatherhood Foundation believes that the key to life is giving.  That's why this newsletter is given freely without expectation.  Life is also about relationships.  That's what being a good father is all about, developing relationships with your loved ones.

If you would like to give financially to the Fatherhood Foundation,

please mail your cheque or money order to:

Fatherhood Foundation

PO Box 440

WOLLONGONG  NSW  2520

AUSTRALIA

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