DUPED FATHER RESUMES FIGHT

The Weekend Australian, October 14/15 2006, by Natasha Robinson

Duped father Liam Magill and his current partner took their battle against the Child Support Agency to the Victorian County Court yesterday as men's rights advocates handed out pamphlets in the court room.

Cheryl King stepped up to the bar table yesterday to represent her partner, who claims the federal agency refused to correct a gross miscalculation that left him with just $200 a week to live on. The CSA refused to return the money Mr Magill had paid for two children that DNA tests revealed he did not father, according to his statement of claim. Mr Magill had been paying child support for the two children for eight years before he discovered the children were not his own.

He is seeking damages for loss of earnings, loss of enjoyment of life, pain and suffering and medical expenses. Ms King faced the bizarre task of questioning her partner in the witness box yesterday as he described his distress at the discovery that $553.79 in child support payments would be deducted from his fortnightly gross salary pf $1019, leaving him with little more than $200 to live on.

The "inflated" deductions came about because Mr Magill drew tens of thousands of dollars from his superannuation, increasing his declared income. This left him $40,000 in arrears in his payments. " This episode here was the start of my ongoing decline into anxiety and depression which I am finding very hard to control" said Mr. Magill who now lives on the disability support pension.

After questioning her partner, Ms King had to step into then witness box herself to be questioned by the Judge. Graham Anderson.

The CSA denies receiving four letters and faxes Mr Magill and Ms King claim they sent pointing out the miscalculation. Defence witness Lauren Fahey, a CSA official told the court a search of the agency's records had found no trace of the correspondence.

"You can be assured that we did send them" Ms King told the witness, before demanding to know how the miscalculations had come about. "Could you live on $217 a week ?" Mr Magill's
child support payments were recalculated in 2001 after the Federal Magistrates Court found
two of the children were fathered by another man.

He made legal history when he won a compensation case against his former wife. But the Victorian Court of Appeal later over turned the $70,000 damages award. Ms King told the court yesterday that the department acted to reclaim Mr Magill's supposed $40,000 arrears debt only after Meredith Magill realised she had been massively overpaid for the two children that were not Mr Magill's, and feared she would have to pay the money back. Ms Fahey rejected the assertion.

The case resumes on Monday for final submissions.