In 2020 the Commonwealth Bank launched Next Chapter - an ambitious commitment to shine a light on the hidden epidemic of financial abuse in the context of domestic violence.
The Next Chapter program built on the Bank’s commitment to address domestic and financial abuse and involves action in three key areas: leading the industry in providing care for vulnerable customers, expanding support for long-term recovery and helping to raise public awareness and increase action in response to the issue.
In this keynote address we will share learnings on the impact of the program and what’s next.

Domestic violence is primarily perpetrated against women by men. Diversity increases the likelihood of domestic violence being perpetrated against people but also intensifies the difficulties in accessing support and/or protection. The trans community experience one of the highest rates of domestic violence across all communities- while data is limited, current research shows up to 75% of trans people experience violence in their relationships and over 50% of trans people self-reporting sexual violence. The same drivers of domestic violence are present in LGBTQ relationships as experienced by heterosexual cisgendered people; as well as transphobia, heteronormativity, sex and gender norms, amongst others.
When seeking support, we can either choose between an LGBTQ service unskilled in dealing with domestic violence, or risk accessing a mainstream service. In main stream services, we often experience the same discrimination and structural inequality as in the non-helping sector, alongside a lack of knowledge, capacity, interest or rigid funding requirements that inhibit support. This was a barrier when I sought support and continues to be an issue today. There were no services for me, and the ones I went to often added to my trauma- sometimes inadvertently and sometimes because they were discriminating. I share my experience to better equip services to not leave us alone in the shadows searching for hope.
How can you be culturally safe as a service provider? And what effect does being unsafe in a mainstream service have on people?

The STOP Domestic Violence Conference in 2022 was one of the first events Commissioner Cronin attended upon being appointed the first national Commissioner for Domestic Family and Sexual Violence. A year on, Micaela will talk about what she has heard and learned from workers, sector leaders, government, community and people with lived experience about the role we can all play in ending violence in a generation.
Micaela will discuss the work of the Commission in its establishment phase, the role that the Commission seeks to play and the year ahead. As she begins to consider how the Commission’s first report to the Australian parliament can keep ending domestic and family violence on the national agenda and ensure that we are doing everything we can as a community to make progress towards the objectives of the National Plan.

Internationally, coercive control is becoming well documented and researched. There has been substantial national and international attention on the different aspects of coercive control and how these underpin experiences and responses to the complex nature of domestic, family and sexual violence (DFSV). Coercive control is associated with an increased risk of fatality in the context of DFSV. Consequently, there is a fundamental need for policy and law reform to support victim-survivors and hold those that use coercive control accountable. Australia is currently progressing policy and legislative reforms around coercive control across different jurisdictions.
While a growing body of research and advocacy informing policy and law reform exists, it is primarily informed by evidence derived from non-Indigenous victim survivors. Little is known about the experiences and perceptions of coercive control among First Nations women and communities, which has repeatedly been flagged by advocates as a major gap in current DFV reform activity.
This presentation is based on a literature review of the current state of knowledge of First Nations women’s perceptions of coercive control and its impact on women, families and the wider community. It examines coercive control at the intimate partner level and in the wider context of colonialism, structural oppression and marginalisation.
Findings raise implications for the current narrative around coercive control, including criminalisation, and the need for culturally sensitive responses.
The literature review will set the foundation for qualitative data gathering across Australia in 2024. The second phase will include interviews with First Nations stakeholders, community members, victim survivors, advocates, legal representatives, community controlled organisations, national alliances and Traditional owners to better understand coercive controlling experiences and perceptions of First Nation women and communities.