Australian Government: Attorney-General's Department
Australian Government: Attorney-General's DepartmentAchieving a Just and Secure Society

International Law and the Child

International Child Abduction

International Child and Spousal Maintenance

Child Support Agency

The Child Support Agency (CSA) is the Commonwealth government department that acts as the Central Authority for the administration of most International Child Maintenance cases. The CSA administers child support cases where one party lives overseas and one party lives in Australia.

Australia is party to a number of international agreements and conventions on international maintenance obligations. The CSA is the agency primarily responsible for the administration of arrangements under the following agreements:

For information about how CSA works; your options; the type of information that you need; payment options when paying child support outside of Australia; and the objection process if you do not agree with a CSA decision; please visit the Child Support Agency website or contact:

Child Support Agency
International Stream
Telephone: +61 3 6216 0864
Solicitors Helpline: 1800 180 272 (from within Australia only)
Facsimile: +61 3 6216 0899

The Attorney-General’s Department

Under the above Conventions and Agreements, AGD deals with non-administrative maintenance matters.

The Australian Government has entered into arrangements with a number of countries to enable residence parents and carers to obtain child support from non-residence parents internationally. The Attorney-General’s Department (AGD) is responsible for transferring matters and in some instances, enforcing particular orders.
The role of the AGD is outlined below:

  • Making court applications for orders or variation of orders where an application must be made to a court rather than by means of an administrative assessment
  • Transmitting applications for confirmation of provisional orders (court orders made in one country which need to be confirmed in the court of the other country to be effective)
  • Transmitting applications for confirmation of a provisional variation order (court orders made in one country which are then varied by the courts in the other country and which are then required to be confirmed by the original court of the first country to be effective)
  • Enforcing proceedings for incoming overseas maintenance entry liabilities (OMELS) which are non-periodic maintenance liabilities
  • Requesting paternity testing, and
  • Cancelling court-registered maintenance orders.

For further information contact the International Family Law Enquiry Line on 1800 100 480 or email CentralAuthority@ag.gov.au.

International Child Protection

Australia is party to the Hague Convention on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Cooperation in Respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children, which entered into force for Australia on 1 August 2003 (the ‘Protection Convention’).

The Protection Convention provides for international co-operation between Convention countries in taking measures of protection for the person and property of children. This allows the recognition and enforcement of measures taken in one Convention country in all other Convention countries. The Protection Convention also seeks to avoid conflict between legal systems of different Convention countries by establishing rules in respect of jurisdiction and applicable law.

The Australian Government Attorney-General's Department is the designated Commonwealth Central Authority under the Protection Convention.

It must be noted that given the limited number of signatories to the Protection Convention, it has limited application in a practical sense. However, the Protection Convention provides a foundation for future international development in the area of child protection as more countries become signatories.

For further information view the Family Law (Child Protection Convention) Regulations 2003.

For further information on the Protection Convention visit the Hague Convention website or contact the International Family Law Enquiry Line on 1800 100 480 or email CentralAuthority@ag.gov.au.