This support system is being weaponised

Children need a lot of things. Unconditional love, of course, but also food, a safe home, clothing, education and medical care. Things that cost money. And things that can be withheld or taken away if you’re not the person paying for them. 

In recent years, multiple studies have confirmed that perpetrators of domestic abuse use child support as a tool of economic violence against the victim-survivors trying to escape them. 

In research published by Swinburne University last year, 80 percent of women surveyed said their former partners replaced physical abuse with financial abuse by exploiting the government’s Child Support Scheme.

Through the scheme, the parent who doesn’t live with the child full-time (usually the father) typically pays the parent who looks after the child (usually the mother) to ensure they’re financially supported. But it doesn’t always play out like this. 

This year, the Commonwealth Ombudsman released a landmark report titled Weaponising Child Support: When the System Fails Families. Prompted by a review of parents’ complaints, the investigation found that far more could be done to detect and address the weaponisation of child support. 

Dr Brian Sullivan – academic, educator and facilitator of men’s domestic violence intervention groups – explains what this weaponisation can look like.

“I’ve worked with men who have deliberately left employment and gone on the dole so they wouldn’t have to pay child support. Who have bought major, major big spends so their bank account is depleted so they don’t have to pay child support,” Dr Sullivan shares on season three of the FW award-winning podcast, There’s No Place Like Home. 

“Or on the other hand, [men] will pay child support and then use that as a way of saying, ‘she’s spending it on herself, it’s not being used on the children’. As a way of targeting her as the mentally unwell, psychotic, uncaring, unloving mother.” 

Women told Swinburne University researchers that manipulating these payments had what Dr Brian Sullivan says is the desired effect — feeling controlled.

“I was able to rebuild my financial assets … and develop a new relationship with money that has freed me from any dependence on the kids’ dad.”

Among the ways their ex-partners caused distress: reducing the amount they paid, threatening to stop paying altogether, and withholding support right before school fees were due or when their child’s birthday was just around the corner. 

These tactics aren’t just about money – they’re part of a broader pattern of abuse. For many women, they make rebuilding even harder. Which is why tailored financial help can be a powerful first step forward towards recovery.

In partnership with CommBank Next Chapter, the Good Shepherd Financial Independence Hub offers specialist, one-on-one financial coaching for all Australians impacted by domestic violence and financial abuse, regardless of who they bank with. 

“The Financial Independence Hub is an emancipatory program,” says Jane*, who found support through this free and confidential service. 

“It allowed me to protect my children and my financial future and security from being sabotaged by abuse. I was able to rebuild my financial assets after losing my house and having less than $2000 in the bank – and develop a new relationship with money that has freed me from any dependence on the kids’ dad.

“I feel safe and am able to provide the life I have imagined and worked so hard for, for myself and my children.”

Initiatives like CommBank Next Chapter are part of the solution. As is getting more aware of financial abuse – in all forms.