Tanya Plibersek urges action on domestic violence suicides after payout to abuser

Tanya Plibersek has asked the Attorney-­General to consider a grieving mother’s plea for reform of super laws, following revelations an abuser was awarded a $65,000 payout when his wife took her own life.

Molly Wilkes, a 22-year old Perth woman who died by domestic violence-related suicide. Picture: Supplied

Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek has asked Attorney-­General Mark Dreyfus to consider a grieving mother’s plea for reform of superannuation laws, following revelations that a domestic violence abuser was awarded a $65,000 payout when his wife took her own life.

The Environment Minister has also written to both Mr Dreyfus and Minister for Women Katy Gallagher alerting them to West Australian data suggesting that women subjected to domestic violence may be up to 10 times more likely to die by their own hand than be murdered by their abuser.

Ms Plibersek’s intervention was sparked by a letter from Julie Adams, the mother of 22-year-old domestic violence victim Molly Wilkes, whose suicide two years ago resulted in super fund HESTA paying her entire superannuation and life insurance benefit to her husband.

The abuse Wilkes suffered at the hands of her husband was revealed by The Weekend Australian, including hundreds of obscene and demeaning texts.

Wilkes’s husband was never charged with any offence but under current laws he would still be entitled to his wife’s death benefit, as the “eligible dependent” even if convicted of a domestic ­violence offence.

“Unfortunately, the trustee can only intervene in situations such as this where an eligible ­dependant has been (or is likely to be) formally charged with a ­member’s murder,” HESTA told Ms Adams, who had tried to stop the payout.

Molly Wilkes and her mother Julie Adams. Picture: Supplied

Ms Adams is campaigning for a “change of circumstances rule” that would cancel an otherwise valid binding death benefit nomination where domestic violence orders had been taken out or there was other evidence of abuse by the beneficiary to the member.

She is also calling for an amendment to the superannuation legislation to codify the common law principle that provides that a person cannot receive benefits from a deceased person’s ­estate where that person has caused the death of another.

“Domestic violence-related suicide is a very unknown topic in most countries, particularly Australia”, Ms Adams said.

She wrote to Ms Plibersek after seeing her speak on the Australian Story program about her 23-year-old daughter, Anna Coutts-Trotter, who became the victim of serious emotional, physical, financial and sexual abuse by a man she trusted when she was a teenager.

Ms Plibersek candidly admitted on the program that when she first learned of his abuse, “honestly, I wanted to kill him for hurting my child”.

Tanya Plibersek with daughter Anna and husband Michael Coutts-Trotter. Picture: Facebook

In her letter to Ms Plibersek, and in a submission to a Senate inquiry into financial abuse, Ms Adams cites the finding of a 2022 WA Ombudsman’s report that found 59 of the women over the age of 18 who died by suicide in 2017 (the most recent year for which there was complete data) were identified victims of family and domestic violence … 56 per cent of the women who took their own life in the state that year.

About half of those women had restraining orders in place or in process before their deaths.

Extrapolating the WA data to the Australian population as a whole, Ms Adams says, 590 women who experience domestic violence would take their own lives every year.

That suggests victims of domestic violence are 10 times more likely to die by their hand than be murdered by the perpetrator.

There were 46 female domestic homicide victims across Australia in 2022–23 with most killed by an intimate partner: one woman killed every 11 days, according to the latest data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

“The number of women who die each year from intimate partner-related homicide is well documented. What is not recognised is the incidence of suicide related to intimate partner violence, ” Ms Adams said in her letter to Ms Plibersek.

Julie Adams is campaigning for the rights of domestic violence-related suicide victims. Picture: Robin Sharrock

“If I had known before Molly’s death that the guilt, shame, hopelessness and helplessness she would feel would make her nine times more likely to end her own life than be murdered, I would have done more than develop a safe exit plan for her. But Molly was so strong and resilient and I just didn’t know. And neither do most Australians.”

Ms Plibersek expressed sympathy for Ms Adams’s loss “and everything that your daughter’s abuser subjected you to afterwards. Because of your letter, I have written to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus and Minister for Women Katy Gallagher pointing out WA’s data highlighting female suicide as a consequence of abuse.”

She said she had also relayed Ms Adams’s request for a review of the Superannuation Act to ensure perpetrators of abuse do not profit from their victims’ death.

If you or someone you know is at risk of suicide, call Lifeline (13 11 14) or the Suicide Call Back Service (1300 659 467), or see a doctor.