Quantifying the Sites of Government, Commercial, and Personal Systems‐Perpetrated Financial Abuse

This study explores the institutional systems through which post‐separation financial abuse is perpetrated. While existing measures seek to quantify the harms experienced by women post‐separation, this study draws on financial, welfare and legal service casefiles to identify where such harms occur. Drawing on 76 de‐identified Victorian service casefiles, the findings show that government, commercial and private financial systems are implicated in the perpetration of financial abuse. The findings reveal that within government systems, victim‐survivors' child support and income support payments were manipulated. Banks were the primary commercial site of perpetration, where debts were accrued and assets were affected. Perpetrators were able to levy debts directly against victim‐survivors through corporate and government systems, or to manipulate local, state and federal government systems to indirectly inflict financial harms that overlapped across public and private institutions. Our analysis reinforces the importance of the Australian government's focus on systems‐perpetrated violence, as well as the need for continued efforts towards the goals of the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children.