Australian Greens additional comments

1.1On behalf of Greens members, I want to thank the Chair for their detailed report and add my support to the points raised.

1.2I would also like to add a personal thanks to all those who supplied evidence to the inquiry. The Committee received many submissions from victim-survivors of financial abuse. Thank you to every person who shared their story with the committee, whether publicly or confidentially. These first-hand accounts are crucial to understanding the severity of the issue and in driving meaningful policy reform.

1.3This is a comprehensive report that makes evidence-based recommendations in a range of important areas. In providing these additional comments, the Australian Greens seek to supplement the recommendations included in the Chair’s report.

1.4One woman dies a week due to domestic and family violence in Australia.[1]This is a national crisis.

1.5Often where domestic and family violence occurs, so does financial abuse. In Australia, an estimated 80-90 per cent of women who seek support for domestic and family violence have experienced financial abuse.[2]

1.6Financial abuse affects people across every socio-economic group, age group, and culture.[3] However, it particularly affects women, with 1.6 million Australian women and 745,000 men having experienced economic abuse.[4]

1.7Financial abuse can cost Australians their money, assets, financial independence, and can cause extreme financial stress and hardship.

1.8The work of frontline services is crucial to helping victim-survivors of financial abuse.

1.9The Chair’s report highlighted the important advocacy work done by frontline services yet did not mention that, due to funding shortfalls, one in four women who seek help from them are at risk of being turned away.[5]

1.10For example, Women’s Legal Services Australia estimated that they will be forced to turn away an estimated 52,000 women this year due to lack of adequate resources.[6]

1.11Successive federal governments have failed to fully fund frontline services, and too many victim-survivors are left to fend for themselves. In fact, the 2024-25 Federal Budget was a step backwards for legal services that support Australian women fleeing violence.[7]

1.12Funding frontline responses services to meet demand is necessary if we are to have any chance of keeping women and children safe.

1.13Numerous frontline services groups called for more funding in their submissions to this inquiry, including Women’s Legal Services Australia, Economic Abuse Reference Group, National Legal Aid, and the Financial Rights Legal Centre.[8]

1.14While the recommendations made in the Chair’s report will help to minimise the many ways in which financial abuse can be perpetrated, our frontline services must be fully funded to help vulnerable Australians when it does occur.

1.15The Australian Greens continue to call on the Albanese Government to fully and consistently fund frontline services at $1 billion per year in line with demands from the sector.

1.16That the Australian Government fully and consistently fund frontline services at $1 billion per year.

Senator Barbara Pocock

Member

Greens Senator for South Australia

Footnotes

[1]Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS), Violence against women: Accurate use of key statistics, https://anrows-2019.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/19025810/ANROWS_VAW-Accurate-Use-of-Key-Statistics.1.pdf (accessed 2 December 2024), p. 2.

[2]ANROWS, Submission 12, p. 1.

[3]Ms Rebecca Glenn, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Centre for Women's Economic Safety, Committee Hansard, 28 June 2024, p. 4.

[4]Australian Bureau of Statistics, Partner Violence, https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/crime-and-justice/partner-violence/latest-release (accessed 2 December 2024).

[5]Senator Larissa Waters, 'Frontline services funding is welcome, but one in four women still getting the help they need', Media Release, 6 September 2024.

[6]Women’s Legal Services Australia, Submission 62, p. 20.

[7]Women’s Legal Services Australia, Submission 62, p. 20.

[8]See for Example: Women’s Legal Services Australia, Submission 62; Economic Abuse Reference Group, Submission 108; National Legal Aid, Submission 78, p, 23; Financial Rights Legal Centre, Submission 112.