An Australian man was stopped from boarding a flight because he owed AU$350,000 (NZ$380,000) in child support.
The unnamed father was confronted by authorities in December 2017 at an Australian airport. He was trying to leave the country to avoid paying years' worth of child support that he owed his children, The Daily Telegraph reports.
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He was prevented from leaving until he paid the hefty sum, which is the single largest amount recovered from an absconding parent by a joint operation run by the Department of Immigration and the Child Support Agency.
Two other would-be travellers were prevented from leaving Sydney in 2017 because of unpaid child support fees. One was forced to pay AU$22,000 (NZ$23,885) while the other owed AU$40,000 (NZ$43,430) but only paid AU$30,000 (NZ$32,570) at the time.
The operation recovered AU$10 million (NZ$10.8 million) in unpaid debts from Australians who tried to leave the country in the 2016/2017 financial year.
Approximately AU$1.5 billion (NZ$1.6 billion) in overdue child support payments are still unpaid.
Newshub.
