Rebecca Glenn
The Centre for Women’s Economic Safety (CWES) has hailed the inclusion of ‘economic abuse’ in the new National Plan to Eliminate Violence Against Women and Children 2022 to 2032, as a breakthrough moment in Australia’s efforts to address the scourge of domestic and family violence.
“For the first time, there is national recognition of the importance of addressing economic abuse in women’s experiences of domestic and family violence,” said Rebecca Glenn, CEO of the CWES.
“For too long, women’s experiences of economic abuse have been made invisible despite the significant impact it has on their safety, wellbeing and choices. The last national plan didn’t even mention economic abuse.
“Despite recognition that women who experience domestic and family violence experience higher rates of poverty, we haven’t focused enough on how perpetrators create this outcome by their actions to restrict, exploit and sabotage their partner’s economic resources.
“The National Plan outlines some of the key steps we can take as a society, across all sectors, to improve outcomes for women who currently face the unenviable choice between violence or poverty,” said Ms Glenn.
Economic abuse is one of six key areas of focus in the new National Plan, alongside the interconnected issues of coercive control, technology-facilitated abuse and intimate partner homicide.
“We know that without economic safety, there is no safety, and we’re delighted that this has now been recognised and incorporated into a national strategy to eliminate domestic and family violence.
“We also welcome the focus on lived experience insights informing policies and solutions. Without the work being in grounded in people’s lived experiences, we can inadvertently end up with a lot of platitudes and wasted money.
“CWES looks forward to playing its part in the National Plan by working with people and organisations across sectors to address economic abuse.
“We will be launching a Discussion Paper next month that outlines the role banks can play in reimagining the design of their products so they are less able to be weaponised by perpetrators to cause financial harm.”