Rosie Batty warns of ‘financial violence’ against women

Domestic violence campaigner Rosie Batty has urged financial institutions to be aware of “financial violence”.

Domestic violence campaigner and 2015 Australian of the Year Rosie Batty. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

Domestic violence campaigner Rosie Batty has urged banks and financial institutions to be aware of the issue of “financial violence” against women.

In an interview with The Australian yesterday, Ms Batty said ­financial institutions needed to be aware of the fact that women could be victims of “financial violence” as well as physical violence by abusive partners.

She said this could include having to go guarantor on loans they knew little about or being deprived of funds, which forced them into debt.

She said financial institutions needed to be sensitive to issues of female clients who found themselves in financial difficulty as a result of being in an abusive relationship.

“Financial violence is preventative and one of the many forms of violence which a woman can experience,” she said.

“Banks need to be able to frame responses to this complex issue and understand how this can play out and what part they can play.”

Ms Batty will make her first visit to a brokers’ trading room when she rings the bell at Nabtrade’s Sydney office next Wednesday.

The firm, owned by National Australia Bank, will be donating all of the brokerage it makes on April 19 to the Luke Batty Foundation, which Ms Batty set up following the murder of her 11-year-old son in 2014 by his father.

Ms Batty said the decision by Nabtrade to donate a day’s brokerage to the foundation followed a lecture she had given to bank staff several years ago.

She said NAB had shown an early interest in raising awareness of the issue of family violence and having policies to help its staff and customers.

She said she hoped the day would help raise awareness of the problem of family violence, including that it was an issue that was “prevalent as much in white-collar sectors as well as other sectors of the community.”

Ms Batty said she felt that her foundation and her role as 2015 Australian of the Year had helped raise awareness of family violence in Australia.

She has spoken at about 500 events on family violence over the past two years. But she said it would be a long time before there was any sign of a reduction in family violence in Australia.

“One woman a week in Australia is murdered at the hands of their partner or ex-partner,” she said.

“Around one in three women in Australia will be affected by ­violence during their lives and one in four children.”

Nathan Walsh, NAB’s general manager of self-directed wealth, said the bank introduced a domestic violence support policy for its staff in 2013 and followed up last year with a policy aimed at ­assisting customers who may be victims of domestic violence.

This included grants of up to $2500 to help them leave a violent home.

Mr Walsh said the amount of money that would be given to the foundation would depend on the amount of trading done on the day by Nabtrade’s 240,000 customers.

He urged customers who were thinking of buying and selling shares to see if they could do so on the day to help the foundation.

“The more people trade, the more the foundation will get,” Mr Walsh said.