A 2024 federal government report on financial abuse made a range of recommendations to protect women from falling prey at the hands of ex-partners
In mid-October, the government endorsed 58 of the 61 recommendations, which were largely drawn from submissions by advocacy groups
Now the Economic Abuse Reference Group, made up of more than 70 community organisations across Australia, wants to see fast action on the agreed-upon measures
The federal government dropped a bombshell of a 206-page report in December 2024, the results of a thoroughgoing inquiry into just how widespread the financial abuse of women is in Australia.
In mid-October this year, it announced that it would support most of the report’s recommendations.
The Economic Abuse Reference Group (EARG), made up of more than 70 community organisations across Australia, is hoping it won’t take the government as long to implement the agreed-upon recommendations as it did to approve them.
Similar to the way the far-flung digital ecosystem has proven a fertile ground for scammers, the multifaceted realm of financial and government services offers many openings for perpetrators of financial abuse.
It almost always comes at the hands of men, and it can happen in conjunction with physical abuse or on its own. Either way, it’s a form of domestic violence.
One disturbingly common example is coerced debt, where women are tricked or forced into involvement with a perpetrator’s business affairs.
This hard-to-detect form of financial abuse takes many forms, such as a perpetrator registering the victim with an Australian Business Number or GST or fraudulently filing their tax returns. Or they might persuade their victim to combine their super account with the perpetrator’s self-managed super or take out a second mortgage on their home.
The victim generally only finds out after the relationship ends and they get an unexpected call from the ATO or a debt collector
In other cases the perpetrator takes out a business loan and names the victim as a director, making her liable for the debt.
The quick and “frictionless” online application processes used by financial services providers makes pulling off these crimes that much easier.
The victim generally only finds out after the relationship ends and they get an unexpected call from the ATO or a debt collector. It can take years to clean up the mess and get the victim’s financial life back in order, and they can experience any number of obstacles along the way.
The EARG was formed in 2016 to focus on the worsening issue of coerced debt as well as other forms of financial abuse. The group is managed nationally by Sydney’s Redfern Legal Centre and includes prominent organisations such as the Financial Rights Legal Centre, The Consumer Action Law Centre, Financial Counselling Australia, Women’s Legal Services Victoria, the Centre for Women’s Economic Safety and others.
EARG is calling on the federal government to urgently implement the recommendations made in the 2024 report, entitled Financial abuse: an insidious form of domestic violence.
The report made 61 of them, covering problematic issues affecting women and other victims in financial services, consumer credit, privacy, insurance, superannuation, child support, taxation, company directorships, trusts and more. In mid-October, the government said yes to supporting 58 of them.
It has been two years since the committee released its recommendations, and in that time victim-survivors continue to have their safety and independence undermined and experience financial harm
EARG national coordinator Lody Stewart
EARG wants the support to turn into action as quickly as possible.
“It has been two years since the committee released its recommendations, and in that time victim-survivors continue to have their safety and independence undermined and experience financial harm,” says Lody Stewart, EARG national coordinator and Redfern Legal Centre’s financial abuse service policy and advocacy lead.
In July this year, EARG released a report showing that frontline services for assisting women were underfunded and unable to meet demand. Some regional areas are stretched but comparatively well served, while others – remote First Nations communities in particular – have chronic resource shortages.
Access to specialist economic and financial abuse support “remains a postcode lottery”, Stewart says.
Access to specialist economic and financial abuse support ‘remains a postcode lottery’
Lody Stewart, EARG national coordinator
Without support, engaging effectively with creditors, liquidators, regulators, and government agencies is all but impossible for many women. The outcomes for women who don’t get help are rarely good.
“Financial abuse does not occur within one system,” Stewart says. “Perpetrators can exploit gaps across banking, credit, tax, corporate, superannuation, child support, social security, and legal systems.”
This is why advocates are calling for an overarching approach to the problem, rather than a series of small fixes by individual stakeholders.
In the US, the Internal Revenue Service (the equivalent of the Australian Tax Office) allows for ‘Innocent Spouse Relief’, which absolves a spouse from tax liabilities if their partner made errors or misstatements – intentionally or otherwise – on a joint federal tax return. The provision was designed in part to prevent victims of domestic violence from incurring debts at the hands of perpetrators.
Victims can be left liable to business debts when the relationship and business comes undone.
Rebecca Glenn, CEO of the Centre for Women’s Economic Safety, says EARG is “particularly encouraged by the government’s commitment to consult on an Australian equivalent of the Innocent Spouse provision”.
“We regularly see victim-survivors left with significant tax liabilities resulting from the actions of an abusive partner, with limited avenues for relief,” Glenn says, adding that “no victim-survivor should be forced to spend years recovering from debts that arose because of coercion, deception or abuse”.
Weaponisation of the tax and super systems
Professor Ann Kayis-Kumar, founding director of the UNSW Tax and Business Advisory Clinic, says the 2024 government report is a “significant milestone”.
“We urgently need law reform to tackle the weaponisation of the tax system by perpetrators of intimate partner financial abuse,” Kayis-Kumar says.
“If implemented, these reforms will create lasting change to improve the lives of millions of Australians and would even present a roadmap for other jurisdictions to follow suit.”
We regularly support victim-survivors who have been coerced into directorships, held liable for business debts that are not theirs, and left to spend years untangling the financial consequences of abuse
Julie Dal Pra of the community support group EACH
Julie Dal Pra, an advisor on business-related financial abuse at the community health and support organisation EACH, says “we regularly support victim-survivors who have been coerced into directorships, held liable for business debts that are not theirs, and left to spend years untangling the financial consequences of abuse”.
She wants to see any actions to bring the recommendations to life carefully coordinated across government, industry and regulators.
Lily Jiang, director of advocacy at CHOICE-affiliated Super Consumers Australia, says opportunities for abuse run through the entire superannuation system.
“We need to tackle the risks built into the system, identify abuse before people’s savings are transferred, and make sure the professionals people rely on aren’t enabling that abuse.”
Following the endorsement of the 58 recommendations, Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services, Daniel Mulino, said the federal government is currently “pursuing a broad set of reforms to better prevent financial abuse, support victim‑survivors and ensure our financial, tax and corporate systems respond appropriately when harm occurs”.
We need to tackle the risks built into the system, identify abuse before people’s savings are transferred, and make sure the professionals people rely on aren’t enabling that abuse
Lily Jiang, director of advocacy at Super Consumers Australia
Assistant Minister for Social Services and the Prevention of Family Violence, Ged Kearney, said “no government system should ever become another tool in an abuser’s toolkit”.
Verbal assurances are one thing; actions on the ground are another. EARG’s Lody Stewart is calling on the government to deliver “coordinated, practical reforms that improve outcomes for victim-survivors”.
Andy Kollmorgen is the Investigations Editor at CHOICE. He reports on a wide range of issues in the consumer marketplace, with a focus on financial harm to vulnerable people at the hands of corporations and businesses. Prior to CHOICE, Andy worked at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and at the Australian Financial Review along with a number of other news organisations. Andy is a former member of the NSW Fair Trading Advisory Council. He has a Bachelor of Arts in English from New York University. LinkedIn
Andy Kollmorgen is the Investigations Editor at CHOICE. He reports on a wide range of issues in the consumer marketplace, with a focus on financial harm to vulnerable people at the hands of corporations and businesses. Prior to CHOICE, Andy worked at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and at the Australian Financial Review along with a number of other news organisations. Andy is a former member of the NSW Fair Trading Advisory Council. He has a Bachelor of Arts in English from New York University. LinkedIn
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