Publications

Family violence and financial abuse is an unfortunate reality faced by too many Australians. While attention is usually focussed on the impact of family violence on controlling people’s access to money and incurring debt, it also arises in a general insurance context.

The 2023 Life Insurance Code of Practice (the Life Insurance Code) introduced a requirement for insurers to have family violence policies available online for their customers. For many life insurers this will be the first publicly available written policy indicating how they will support customers experiencing family violence. Family violence – in the form of physical, emotional, psychological, sexual, financial or economic abuse in a family or domestic context – is a scourge and life insurance can unfortunately be intentionally or unintentionally used by perpetrators to harm victims.

The Financial Rights Legal Centre (Financial Rights) saw this as an important opportunity to inquire into which life insurers’ written policies demonstrated best practice, and to benchmark all Life Insurance Code subscribers to encourage ongoing improvements to their family violence policies.

This handbook is a practical guide for people having trouble with their mortgage. Getting behind on your repayments for a home loan is stressful. This handbook will help guide you to get a repayment arrangement in place with your lender. It explains your options and it has sample documents you can use and a list of useful contacts.

This 2024 publication is the 5th edition of the Mortgage Stress Handbook. It was written by the Financial Rights Legal Centre and Legal Aid Commission of NSW. The Mortgage Stress Handbook was first published in 2009 by Legal Aid NSW.

The Handbook is also available online at Legal Aid NSW where you can order a free copy.

Our 2023 Annual Report is now available.

Annual Report 2023

New research from a coalition of advocacy groups has found the home and contents insurance market is failing to protect people against extreme weather events, with customers struggling to access and afford the insurance they need.  The report, commissioned by CHOICE, Climate Council, Financial Counselling Australia, Financial Rights Legal Centre, and the Tenants’ Union of NSW, is based on a nationwide survey of home insurance policyholders, in depth interviews with people affected by extreme weather events, and interviews with key civil society groups.

In this podcast, Rebekah Wong, solicitor from the Financial Rights Legal Centre, talks with Legal Aid NSW about the free services offered by our financial counsellors and solicitors. Listen to the podcast.