Spotlight on economic abuse - Good Shepherd Youth & Family ...

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The DV Vic definition informs the understanding of domestic and family violence adopted in this paper. In Australia generally the term family violence is more typically used to refer to violence perpetrated by a range of family or community members while domestic violence refers to violence perpetrated by a male partner towards a woman. Both terms acknowledge the gendered nature of violence and they are often used interchangeably (Murray & Powell 2011). Throughout this paper they are used together to maintain a focus on the intimate partner relationships in which most family violence occurs and to include consideration of the other family and community contexts in which economic abuse occurs, including for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women (Bryant & Willis 2008), older adults (Bagshaw, Wendt & Zannettino 2009; McFerran 2009) and people with disabilities (Hague et al. 2008). For example in relation to people with disabilities, economic abuse may be perpetrated by someone who is not a relative or intimate partner but is in a family-like relationship living with the person with a disability or is providing care and personal support to that person in a home environment (Office of the Public Advocate 2010). Acknowledging that the vast majority of domestic and family violence is perpetrated by men against women, the term woman is used in making non-specific references to people affected by violence. This is not intended to suggest that all men are perpetrators of violence nor that men are never victims of abuse. Violence may occur in same-sex relationships and may be perpetrated by women; however, typically domestic violence is perpetrated by men against their current or former female partner. There is no single broadly adopted definition of economic abuse. Definitions vary somewhat according to their purpose (for example, for legal, statistical or research purposes). Economic abuse as a form of domestic and family violence is most often defined in terms of behaviours of the person perpetrating the violence. In definitions of family and domestic violence in the family violence laws in Australia that include economic abuse, it has been formulated as including the following: unreasonable controlling behaviour without consent that denies a person financial autonomy withholding financial support reasonably necessary for the maintenance of a partner; coercing a partner to relinquish control over assets unreasonably preventing a person from taking part in decisions over household expenditure or the disposition of joint property coercing a person to claim social security payments preventing a person from seeking or keeping employment. (ALRC/NSWLRC 2010, pp. 196-197). 2 The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) defines economic abuse as: actual or threatened (abuse), including deprivation of basic necessities; seizure of income or assets; withholding or controlling against a person’s will their access to money, food, clothes and personal items such as car keys or bankbook; unreasonable denial of the means necessary for participation in social life; and coercion. (ABS 2009, p. 9) The ABS identifies the relationships in which economic abuse might occur as marriage; defacto relationships; intimate relationships, whether of a sexual nature or not; parent-child 2 These formulations are drawn from the Family Violence Protection Act 2008 (Vic) s 6; Intervention Orders (Prevention of Abuse) Act 2009 (SA) s 8(5); Family Violence Act 2004 (Tas) ss 7, 8; and the Domestic and Family Violence Act 2007 (NT) s 5. The full definition of economic abuse in the Victorian legislation is given in full in Appendix B of this report. 4
elationships; sibling relationships; domestic relationships; relatives through blood, marriage, or cultural, ethnic or religious beliefs (including kinship relationships); and relationships of dependency, or involving personal or financial commitment (ABS 2009, p. 9). Within the practice and research literature concerned with domestic and family violence, definitions of economic abuse are somewhat broader. For example Tolman (2011 p. 1) identifies economic abuse “in its broadest conceptualisations, (as) the set of behaviors designed to harm women’s economic wellbeing”. Similarly Adams and colleagues (Adams et al. 2008, p. 564) describe economic abuse as involving behaviours that ‘control a woman’s ability to acquire, use, and maintain economic resources, thus threatening her economic security and potential for self-sufficiency’. Recent research, reports from practitioners and reviews of family and domestic violence research have identified types of behaviours which can constitute economic abuse. For example, from her research in the United Kingdom, Sharp (2008, pp. 1-2) identified these four types of abuse: interfering with education and employment controlling access to economic resources refusing to contribute generating economic cost. Based on their review of research in the United States, Adams et al. (2008) identified three types of economic abuse: preventing women from acquiring resources preventing women from using resources exploiting women’s resources. Combining these, the following four types of behaviours can be identified: Preventing acquisition of economic resources: o through interfering with education, training and employment o through preventing acquisition of other economic resources. Preventing use of resources/controlling access to economic resources. Refusing to contribute. Exploiting women’s resources and/or generating economic costs. Examples of these types of behaviours are identified in recent research studies from Australia (Braaf & Barrett Meyering 2011; Branigan 2004; Branigan 2007; Fraser, Hunter & Borrell 2011; McFerran 2011), the UK (Refuge 2005; Sharp 2008), the USA (Adams et al. 2008; Anderson et al. 2003; Moe & Bell 2004; Postmus et al. 2012; Tolman & Wang 2005), and Canada (Power 2006). 5
Page 2 and 3: Spotlight on Econo
Page 4 and 5: Contents List of Abbreviations ....
Page 6 and 7: Executive Summary This literature r
Page 8 and 9: legal matters migration matters hea
Page 10 and 11: There is a need for greater support
Page 12 and 13: Overview This paper is organised as
Page 16 and 17: Case Study: Maria Maria’s husband
Page 18 and 19: Some ‘typical scenarios’ of eco
Page 20 and 21: As part of repeated or ongoing cont
Page 22 and 23: also outside the scope of this pape
Page 24 and 25: Influences, Impacts and Points of I
Page 26 and 27: Particular vulnerabilities to econo
Page 28 and 29: Exploring the impacts of economic a
Page 30 and 31: Impacts relating to child support.
Page 32 and 33: Compared with 1995, people were mor
Page 34 and 35: Public Policies and Practices There
Page 36 and 37: the legal frameworks affecting dome
Page 38 and 39: In addition to family violence poli
Page 40 and 41: Centrelink may seek to recover paym
Page 42 and 43: Services staff providing customer s
Page 44 and 45: perpetrators to be excluded from th
Page 46 and 47: purpose is to “build the capacity
Page 48 and 49: financial literacy strategy. Howeve
Page 50 and 51: or in any other way controls or dom
Page 52 and 53: In its recent review the ALRC ident
Page 54 and 55: and for the creation of a new tempo
Page 56 and 57: equiring assistance or consideratio
Page 58 and 59: establish if there is a need for re
Page 60 and 61: considered by community sector grou
Page 62 and 63: Community Services Policies and Pra
Page 64 and 65:
Financial counselling services are
Page 66 and 67:
Conclusion: Community services resp
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—— 2011, Forms of employment, A
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Chappell, D & Di Martino, V 2000, V
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se.unsw.edu.au/Conference%20papers/
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Northern Territory Government 2008,
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VicHealth—see Victorian Health Pr
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ALRC (2011c) recommendations for ch
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GoodShepherd_Cover_print.indd 2 1/1
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