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Senator Deborah O’Neill, Chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services, and committee member and Federal Member for Swan, Zaneta Mascarenhas MP, have just announced a new inquiry on financial abuse in Australia.
The inquiry will assess the role of financial institutions in identifying and preventing financial abuse, the effectiveness of existing laws to govern the ability of banks to deal with financial abuse, and potential areas for reform.
The inquiry will also consider steps that might be taken to support banks to better detect financial abuse. It will explore international experiences and reforms to help understand how Australia can best respond to this form of abuse.
The committee resolved to proceed with the inquiry in March. The inquiry was proposed by Zaneta Mascarenhas MP, who has welcomed committee support for the inquiry.
“After hearing many stories of financial abuse in the community, I wanted to bring this issue to Parliament and to national attention.” said Ms Mascarenhas.
“This inquiry will look at just how common financial abuse is and the ability of banks to respond to it…I invite as many people as possible - those with lived experience and the organisations and banks who are on the frontline - to submit evidence to the inquiry”
The terms of reference are now available to the public. Written submissions addressing any or all of the terms of reference are now open.
Submissions close at 5:00pm, Friday 14th June 2024.