Family Law Act 1975

The parents of a child have, subject to this Division, the primary duty to maintain the child.

Without limiting the generality of subsection (1), the duty of a parent to maintain a child:

is not of lower priority than the duty of the parent to maintain any other child or another person; and

has priority over all commitments of the parent other than commitments necessary to enable the parent to support:

himself or herself; or

any other child or another person that the parent has a duty to maintain; and

is not affected by:

the duty of any other person to maintain the child; or

any entitlement of the child or another person to an income tested pension, allowance or benefit.