Ask a policy expert: does Centrelink support single mothers exiting violent relationships?
Guardian Australia’s Fair Go? spokespeople pose a question and policy researchers from the University of Sydney’s policy lab find the answer
Emily Lightfoot and Sydney Policy Lab - Thu 16 May 2019
Accountant and single mother Emily Lightfoot from Albury in New South Wales.
Fair Go? spokeswoman: Emily Lightfoot, of Albury, New South Wales, is a single mother who currently receives Newstart allowance.
Wants to know: Does Centrelink support single mothers exiting violent relationships?
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Sydney Policy Lab says: We found out that people with complex needs typically encounter more problems with accessing the support they need, and that while access to support payments for people trying to exit violent relationships may be incrementally improving, there are still strong roadblocks to accessing the payments which can prevent parents from leaving violent relationships.
What are the factors affecting people leaving violent relationships?
Family and domestic violence can include physical violence, sexual assault, financial abuse, emotional abuse, stalking, kidnapping, serious neglect, damage to property, causing injury to an animal, verbal abuse, cultural abuse and exposing children to these behaviours. Women in particular are at risk of experiencing domestic or family violence. On average, one in three Australian women have experienced physical violence since they were 15; one in four women have experienced emotional abuse from a current or former partner; and one woman is murdered each week by her current or former partner. Violence against women is the key driver of homelessness; the health, administration and social welfare impacts cost approximately $21.7bn every year. Advocacy organisation Our Watch states that “Violence against women and their children takes a profound and long-term toll on women and children’s health and wellbeing, on families and communities, and on society as a whole.”
A range of complex factors affect whether people are able to leave violent relationships. This includes fear of the violence escalating when they leave, lack of support from family or friends, and not having enough money or employment. In 2017, the ACTU estimated that “leaving a violent relationship takes on average $18,000 and 141 hours in terms of finding new accommodation, legal fees and finding the necessary financial and emotional supports”.
What kinds of income support can people exiting violent relationships get?
People eligible for social security payments who are experiencing family or domestic violence can legally access a crisis payment of one week’s income (eg $300.55 for a single mother with dependent children on Newstart) up to four times every 12 months. The National Social Security Rights Network says that these payments should be raised to approximately $1,640 (four times the single pension rate) and that the payments should be available up to six times a year to acknowledge that people may need to “make multiple attempts to leave a violent relationship before they are successful”. They also recommend that people not currently receiving Centrelink payments may also need temporary financial support to leave a violent relationship.
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That said, for Emily and others leaving violent relationships, the crisis payment is too hard to access. The application for crisis payments includes formal police or medical reports on the crisis incident, and whether the offender has been removed and legally prevented from attending the residence, and questions about current income supports. The application must be submitted in a seven-day window following the crisis incident. For many escaping violent relationships, the situation is more complex and drawn out than one specific incident. As such, the stipulations of the crisis payment application at best set an unrealistic bar and at worst provide recourse only once extreme physical violence has occurred.
Single mothers fleeing violent relationships may also be able to access a variety of income support payments, including the Family Tax Benefit, Child Care Benefit, Parenting Payment Single and Newstart Allowance. The current Newstart rate, $601.10 a fortnight, is regarded as being well below the poverty line of $866 a fortnight for a single adult living alone, meaning fleeing a violent relationship can send parents and children into poverty.
The Parenting Payment Single, which is only available to single parents with children under eight, is slightly higher than Newstart though still below the poverty line, at up to $776.10 per fortnight.
In order to receive the payment, parents will first need to prove that they are single. The processes of verifying relationship status can place an unreasonable and strong burden of proof on Emily and other single mothers. For example, the verification of relationship status form required to apply for Parenting Payment Single requires third-party referees who can attest to relationship status. In relationships where domestic violence has occurred, referees may be difficult to find. Similarly, when Centrelink conducts a review of relationship status, domestic violence is not considered in determining if a person is a member of a couple relationship.
Once approved for the Parenting Payment Single, the single parent is likely to need to meet “mutual obligation requirements” like participating in the ParentsNext program. A 2019 Senate inquiry found that ParentsNext caused “anxiety, stress and harm” for parents, for example via strict reporting requirements like having to prove participation in activities such as playgroup or story time or extreme difficulties in gaining medical exemptions. Given these criticisms, heavily conditional programs like ParentsNext likely compound the stress, fear and financial strain of escaping violent relationships.
Are there changes on the horizon?
Since the beginning of 2019, the Guides for Social Security Law – which decision-makers use to administer the system – have taken domestic and family violence into account for all payments, not just crisis payments. This results from issues identified in a report by the National Social Security Rights Network, which examined the intersection of social security payments and people experiencing family and domestic violence. Prior to 2019, when assessing whether someone was eligible for Newstart, Centrelink wasn’t taking into account economic abuse, that the presence of domestic and family violence affects whether two people are a “couple”, or that someone escaping a violent relationship may not have full control over their own finances. The report also highlights the intersection of escaping violent relationships, needing income support and homelessness, and notes that non-Australian residents such as newly arrived migrants and New Zealand permanent residents remain particularly vulnerable. Emily’s experience and the report suggest that there continue to be strong roadblocks to parents being able to access the payments they need in order to leave violent relationships.
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The future direction of income supports available to single parents will be determined by the outcome of the federal election on 18 May. A Coalition government is likely to continue the trend of a heavily conditional social welfare system, with “stronger compliance measures”, extending mandatory income management and requiring people with drug and alcohol problems to undertake treatment. The Labor opposition has signalled a number of potential areas of reform, including a review and likely raise of the Newstart rate, increased childcare funding, and doubling the investment in the Fourth Action Plan to prevent and respond to family violence.
People needing counselling, information or support about domestic or family violence can call the national 24/7 helpline on 1800 737 732 or visit their website here. People requiring information or assistance regarding legal issues with Centrelink can find their local National Social Security Rights Network member here.
Reporting in this series is supported by VivCourt through the Guardian Civic Journalism Trust