EARG Coordinator Jasmine Opdam says while the Government’s proposed law reform will help victim survivors, it will not address financial abuse carried out through other business structures.
She says while the government’s proposed changes to company directorships will go some way to helping victims, it will not deal with financial abuse via business structures outside company directorships, such as fraudulent or coerced ABN registrations, fraudulent tax returns, GST fraud and self-managed super funds.
“If we only address financial abuse through company directorships, there’s a risk that perpetrators will pivot and we’ll see harms exacerbating in other structures,” she said.
“We see perpetrators fraudulently setting up ABNs so that their partners are operating as sole traders but being controlled by the perpetrator,” she said.
“We see perpetrators fraudulently lodging tax returns and using GST fraud schemes that they take the benefit from, and we see perpetrators using self-managed superannuation funds.”
Ms Opdam says any reforms must be accompanied by greater investment in free support for victim survivors of financial abuse.
“It’s a postcode lottery whether a woman will be able to access free support to make these kinds of arguments and make use of the new legal protections,” Ms Opdam said.