SVA research interrogates effect of government payments on victim survivors of family and domestic violence

Ahead of the federal budget scheduled for March 25, the Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee (EIAC) has published ten recommendations to enhance economic inclusion and reduce disadvantage around Australia. Key among them is a call supported by SVA research to improve the way victim survivors of family and domestic violence are assisted by the social security payments system.

The recommendation was made after the team at SVA Consulting, in partnership with Professor Roslyn Russell, brought together existing literature with data analysis across three different datasets, to better understand the impacts of government payments on victim survivors of family and domestic violence.

We found:

• Around 36-40% of victim-survivors of partner violence receive a government payment (e.g. JobSeeker or the Disability Support Pension).
• Victim survivors who receive government payments may be more likely to face challenges leaving a violent relationship, and may be more likely to highlight lack of money as the main barrier to leaving.
• Victim survivors who receive government payments may be more likely to return to a violent relationship than victim survivors on salary or wages.
• There is strong evidence that leaving a violent relationship leads to financial hardship, that those on government payments are highly vulnerable, and that financial hardship can lead to victim survivors returning to the violent relationship.

“Ultimately, the decision to leave a violent relationship, or return to one, involves many complex factors including financial concerns. Government payments can both alleviate and entrench financial stress for victim survivors,” says Susie King, Executive Director, Consulting and Family Violence Practice Lead at SVA.

“But undeniably, we found victim survivors face unique challenges in accessing government payments, such as meeting the short application timeframes, communicating with Centrelink staff during a time of crisis, and the ability to safely gather the evidence required to demonstrate their eligibility.

“Not all victim survivors who need to access government support payments are able to. And in fact, the data suggests they are more likely to lose payments due to not meeting mutual obligations compared to other payment recipients.”

“There is an opportunity to commit to richer, more detailed research and data collection, tackling the gaps in information we encountered, so that policy is data-informed, improved and government assistance for victim survivors is a resource for good.”

Family and domestic violence is a major health, economic and welfare issue in Australia, leading to physical and mental ill health, financial hardship and homelessness. Around 11% of the Australian population has experienced current and/or previous partner violence. First Nations communities, people with disability, people with young children and people living outside major cities report disproportionately higher rates of violence and higher rates of receiving government payments.

Despite being able to access detailed government data on payment recipients, there were critical gaps which prevented us from conclusively answering many questions. However, the trends we were able to confirm are important. They build on existing and emerging evidence that access to government payments is an influential factor in a victim survivor’s experience leaving a violent relationship, and in attaining and maintaining future independence and recovery. We can do better to ensure this experience is a more positive one, shifting the dial on disadvantaged for many thousands of Australians affected by family and domestic violence.

You can access the EIAC 2025 Report to Government here, finding SVA’s contribution summarised in Chapter 5. SVA’s report is published in Appendix 7 (pg 198).

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