AICD submission on combatting financial abuse perpetrated through coerced directorships

Our submission was strongly supportive of the intent of the consultation paper, being to address the vulnerabilities in tax and corporate systems that enable the misuse of company directorships as a form of coercive control.  The AICD welcomed the opportunity to support legislative changes that reduce the incidence of and harm from coerced directorships.

The key points in our submission were:

• Specific, targeted legislative amendments addressing coercive control should be included in the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Corporations Act) and the Taxation Administration Act 1953 (Cth) (TAA). Targeted amendments will mitigate against the reforms bringing unintended consequences.
• The AICD supports the use of existing concepts in Federal legislation as the best way for the legislative changes to assist victim-survivors to escape financial abuse. Accordingly, the AICD suggests that Treasury draws on the work that has been done on Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) (Family Law Act) reforms.
• The cornerstone principle should be that the victim-survivor’s appointment as, or exercise of their powers or discharge of their duties as, a director was compromised by their exposure to family violence as defined in s 4AB of the Family Law Act.
• The Director ID linkage to the Companies Register proposed in the Treasury Laws Amendment (Business Registries Stabilisation and Uplift) Bill 2025 will assist in restricting the ability of perpetrators to fraudulently register directors without their consent. This could be combined with a requirement for both the company (using the corporate key) and the director (using both their DIN and myID) separately to confirm the director’s appointment.
• It is critical that the ongoing availability of director personal information on the Companies Register is addressed as soon as possible and prior to the Director ID being linked in full on the Register, especially given the unique risks that victim-survivors face.
• The existing provisions in the Corporations Act are sufficient to hold perpetrators to account for coerced director appointments. Dedicated, active enforcement of those provisions is what is needed.
• It is fundamental that guidelines are published to explain both the new provisions and the processes that victim-survivors can take to access and benefit from the provisions.
• There should be a further round of consultation on an exposure draft of the legislative amendments, so that stakeholders can provide an informed view of the practical implications of the intended changes.