Mary Doyle (Aston, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased to speak on the motion put by the member for Swan as this is an issue that I care about deeply. Financial abuse takes many forms. It can be checking over the items when you come home from shopping and questioning why certain things were purchased. If done repeatedly over time it can leave a person feeling like they have to constantly justify their needs and wants, as if they are not important. It can be having to hand over your entire wage into a joint bank account and having it managed entirely by your partner, only having a certain amount of pin money doled out each week. It's the whole attitude of, 'Don't worry about it, honey; I'll take everything.' Or you can be told that you don't need to work, that you'll be taken off completely, but years later find out that you've been taken advantage of in ways that you had no idea about, such as signing mysterious documents which turn out to be legally binding.

Years after a relationship like this has ended, a woman can find herself with barely any superannuation, stripped of years of work experience, deskilled and with little self-esteem left over. Financial abuse can happen over many years, sometimes without a person even realising what's going on. It wreaks havoc with one's self-esteem and confidence and is designed to keep someone under another's control.

The Albanese government has invested $2.3 billion in women's safety, including more than $326 million in prevention initiatives specifically, across our first two budgets. Last year, our government, along with the states and territories, released the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022-2032. This plan specifically recognises that financial abuse is a common form of domestic and family violence. It is perpetrated by intimate partners or family members and also occurs in the context of elder and carer abuse. It manifests in different ways, but generally it is a type of controlling behaviour where the perpetrator controls finances and assets to gain power and control in a relationship.

The safety of women and children experiencing family, domestic and sexual violence is a national priority for the Albanese government, and our governments believe women and children experiencing violence should not be forced to remain in unsafe situations due to financial barriers. A woman I know in my electorate told me a story of how her husband put a stop on their joint bank account when their relationship was breaking down. She was then unable to access her pay for a fortnight which had just been paid in. Her husband knew that this was the account her pay went into and knew she would not be able to pay her credit card off that month. What upset her the most was that the bank was able to do this without even alerting her first. There was not even a phone call. She was the other named account holder. No bank should be able to do this to a woman.

Financial abuse can also be withholding child support payments from an ex-partner to punish them, even though child support is specifically for the upkeep of a child who a person has helped bring into the world to help pay for their clothes, food, the electricity and internet in their home, the rent or mortgage on that home, their education and everything else involved with raising a child.

Just last Friday, a woman came into my electorate office to talk to me about an issue that affects many women like her across this country, that of unpaid child support. She has done everything right. She has contacted the Child Support agency numerous time about the unpaid payments, but because of the creative accounting of her ex-husband, who is not short of money, he is able to find various avenues to escape down to avoid paying what is owed to her for the upkeep of their children. He, like a lot of ex-partners, uses child support payments in an abusive way against his former partner to hurt her and, in turn, he hurts his children. This is financial abuse. The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous but who gave permission to talk about her situation, is in dire financial straits currently. She's unable to work at the moment due to an injury but is keen to get back into the workforce. She is a highly skilled worker in her field and just needs someone on her side. Welfare payments barely cover her rent and bills. She is at breaking point and came to me in a desperate state.

I would never want to see any government department, financial institution or any other organisation, for that matter, contribute to a woman's ongoing trauma and abuse. Ending violence against women and children, including financial abuse, is everybody's responsibility and business. We can all play a role in prevention, whether as colleagues in the workplace, workers in the community, financial institutions, local sporting groups and other community organisations or parents, carers, family and friends.

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