Super Consumers Australia commissioned Impact Economics and Policy to gather case studies and evidence on issues First Nations Australians are facing with superannuation, and to develop practical solutions and recommendations for improvement. This project was also supported by Mob Strong Debt Help, which assisted with the development of this report, collected observations on issues faced by First Nations consumers and organised interviews with financial counsellors and case workers who help First Nations peoples with their superannuation.
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.
