Hi all, First of all I apologise for this off-topic message. But I desperately need your help. I need to provide evidence in the Family Court of the downturn in the IT industry and specifically the problems in the IT job market for those looking for work. In a recent Family Court hearing, 11 newspaper articles that I submitted to illustrate the dire situation in the IT job market were deemed not admissible as evidence by Justice Boland. The only evidence that she accepted was Tony Abbott's and Philip Ruddock's joint press release dated 13 March 2003 titled "Government responds to Changing ICT Labour Market" that mentioned "the softening of the ICT labour market and the increased difficulties some Australian computing professionals are experiencing in finding jobs."
My appeal to the Family Court is about the fact that my child support income was assessed by the Child Support Agency (CSA) in early 2001 at the income cap level for a period of three years to December 2003, while in reality my actual income has been much lower in the past two years. The income cap level is defined as 2.5 times the yearly equivalent of the average weekly earnings and is currently $113,542 per year. Normally only people with an annual income in excess of the income cap level have their child support income set at that level by the CSA. However, the CSA will often assess a payer's income at the cap level if they can find any reason to do so, such as using "earning capacity" instead of actual income. In my case it was based on high earnings in the year 2000. I have filed one objection after another, telling the CSA that current contract rates are much lower. The CSA refused to change the assessment. They said to me things like "If you had a high rate once you sure can get it again", and "you should keep trying" and "people who have to pay child support always complain". Imagine if the ATO would apply the following rule: "we know that your income is $X but we will assess your taxable income at double that amount because we believe that is what you could have earned if you tried harder". There will be riots in the streets. But the CSA and the Family Court apply similar measures to non-custodial parents as a matter of routine on a daily basis. When I asked Justice Boland how else I could provide evidence of the difficulties faced by IT workers and in particular software/Internet developers such as myself who are working on a contract basis, she answered that I should refer to "industry experts". So I did that and received some material showing that IT salaries and contract rates have decreased since 2000 and there is also a recent ACS study that reveals ICT unemployment is nearly twice the national average. But that may not be enough. I think it would be better if I could find evidence from other people with similar skills and experience. That's why I am trying to reach you with this request for help. If you are a Coldfusion developer and you work on a contract basis then you may have experienced decreasing contract rates and larger gaps between contracts in the past two to three years. Or if you work on a permanent basis it may have been difficult to find a job that is paying $113,000 per year or more. What I need from you is information that I can use in the Family Court to show that an annual income of $113,000 for a Coldfusion developer is unrealistic in current market conditions. There is no need for you to appear in Court in person (but you're welcome to attend the hearing if you wish) nor is it necessary to reveal your exact income. The information should be in the form of an affidavit and I can give you all the information you need to make one. For your information, I am self-represented in Court as I cannot afford the legal fees. The next hearing is in Sydney on 11 June 2003. Thank you for your attention. I hope you can help and thank you in advance for your help. Please send your response to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Kind regards, Stephen Parengkuan [EMAIL PROTECTED] 0419 578899 --- You are currently subscribed to cfaussie as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] MX Downunder AsiaPac DevCon - http://mxdu.com/
