Domestic abuse or genuine relationship? Our welfare system can’t tell

In Australia’s social security laws, the “couple rule” is used to determine if a person is in a relationship, tying access to Centrelink payments to the income and assets of their partner.

For victims of domestic violence, it ties a woman’s access to social security payment to the perpetrator.

Recently I analysed Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) couple rule decisions from 1992 to 2016 that involved domestic violence.

The full array of violence was represented in my sample of 70 decisions – from rape and enforced marriage to financial…

I found that the…