Financial abuse horrors spark call for new law targeting economic harm

Lawmakers should designate economic and financial abuse as a form of violence alongside psychological, physical and sexual abuse, social lender Good Shepherd says. Photo / 123RF

Deadbeat parents splurging on pokies while the family starves and boyfriends who make partners beg for cash to buy sanitary products are some archetypal financial abusers.

Others secretly spend spouses' money or use financial control to keep abused partners from leaving.

Now, social lender Good Shepherd said lawmakers should designate economic and financial abuse as a form of violence alongside psychological, physical and sexual abuse.

Good Shepherd conducted a six-month economic harm support service pilot before calling for a new law akin to legislation already present in some places overseas.

Dr Pushpa Wood, Massey University's Financial Education and Research Centre director, said she'd like such a law to become reality.

"But whether it becomes a reality in the next five years is a big question."

And she said consensus was needed to avoid repeating divisive arguments such as those when anti-smacking laws were being debated.

"Financial abuse does cause violence, whether it's emotional violence or whether it's physical violence."

Sometimes wealthier partners, usually men, used financial control to keep people in abusive relationships, Wood said.

"We've also been following the work of MSD, especially in the financial abuse of seniors, which is a concern."

She favoured an educational approach to help people trapped in such relationships.

Wood said such approaches basically asked: "How are you able to secure your future so you are able to make the decisions that are right for you?"

Investment was needed in proactive approaches, she said, so people could remove at least one excuse from staying in financially-abusive relationships.

Private investigator Julia Hartley Moore said a law change criminalising financial harm would be helpful.

She said marital financial abuse was still common.

"The extent of it, this financial abuse, it's terrible."

Hartley Moore said using matrimonial funds to buy a house and not telling your spouse about the purchase was an example of financial abuse.

She said the Family Court handled some related issues but additional law helping abuse survivors get traction would be good.

Hartley Moore also said financial abuse of older people was concerning.

"There's plenty of women that go after elderly guys that are perhaps unwell, become their caregiver, even marry them. They get all their assets and that's abuse."

A Criminal Defence Lawyers Australia article said financial abuse could leave victims without savings or assets.

The most common form of financial abuse involved perpetrators withholding or controlling a victim's income, the CDLA added.

Women's Refuge chief executive Dr Ang Jury says improving access to financial support and educating the public about financial abuse is crucial. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Dr Ang Jury, Women's Refuge chief executive, said more work was need using existing laws before a new one should probably be enacted.

She said educating people about methods and consequences of financial abuse was important now.

"When you have to ask your partner for money for sanitary products, that is abusive behaviour."

Jury said a spouse who spent so much money at the casino the partner and children went hungry was also carrying out financial abuse.

A fine line sometimes separated traditional notions of looking after someone from unhealthy and coercive behaviour, she said.

"It can be life-crippling for some women and for others it goes on and on and on through the courts, particularly if the level of vindictiveness is sufficient ..."

A financial abuse law was not a bad idea, but improving Family Court processes for divorcees and improving benefit systems for victims was potentially better now, she said.

"Because our safety nets and our systems aren't as good as they should be, it's very difficult to walk away sometimes, to what's going to be worse or has the potential to be worse."

Jury added: "Every little bit of awareness that seeps into the public consciousness is a good thing."

Good Shepherd also said banks and other creditors urgently needed clear guidelines on how to handle protection orders for clients with shared debts or accounts.

Banks and other creditors should limit liability on joint debts in cases of family violence, so victims were only responsible for their half of debt, the Good Shepherd report added.

"In cases where the victim was coerced in the first instance, their share of the debts should be waived entirely."

Good Shepherd also called for amendments to how some abuse survivors' benefits could be accessed.

It said family violence responses should assess economic harm to ensure victims could genuinely access resources on which applications for support were based.

The new Good Shepherd report said economic harm could happen in isolation but it more commonly occurred alongside other abuse types.

Harmans Lawyers said economic abuse was a form of family violence and could be cited when applying for protection orders, but was not a criminal offence in its own right.

Northern Territory law defined economic abuse as coercive, deceptive or unreasonably controlling non-consensual behaviour which denied people economic or financial autonomy.

The NT law also included scenarios where one person withheld or threatened to withhold financial support necessary to meet reasonable living expenses.

Where to get help:

Good Shepherd: Resources and information on economic harm: goodshepherd.org.nz

• Women's Refuge: Free national crisis line operates 24/7: 0800 refuge or 0800 733 843 www.womensrefuge.org.nz

• Shine, free national helpline 9am-11pm every day: 0508 744 633 www.2shine.org.nz

• It's Not Ok: Information line 0800 456 450 www.areyouok.org.nz

• Shakti: Providing specialist cultural services for African, Asian and Middle Eastern women and children. Crisis line 24/7 0800 742 584

• Ministry of Justice: www.justice.govt.nz/family-justice/domestic-violence

• National Network of Stopping Violence: www.nnsvs.org.nz

• White Ribbon: Aiming to eliminate men's violence towards women. www.whiteribbon.org.nz

• Elder Abuse Response Service (EARS): 0800 32 668 65 (0800 EA NOT OK)

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