Australians who don’t pay child support should be chased by tax office, parliamentary committee says

‘It’s just ridiculous that we as the victims feel shame’ … Tammy Casselson alleges her ex-husband used financial abuse as a way of maintaining control over her. Photograph: Asanka Brendon Ratnayake/The Guardian

The child support system should be overhauled so that parents who fail to pay can be chased by the Australian Taxation Office for the debt, and insurers and superannuation companies should introduce safeguards to stop perpetrators of domestic violence profiting financially from the deaths of their victims, a parliamentary committee has recommended.

The 61 recommendations, tabled by the parliamentary joint standing committee on corporations and financial services, would see sweeping reforms of the banking, superannuation, insurance, taxation, child support and legal systems, in a bid to stamp out financial abuse.