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Financial Risk Firm Urges NSW Government to Criminalise Parental Economic Abuse in Landmark Submission
SYDNEY, NSW (15 July 2026) — Specialty risk advice firm
Sapience Financial has lodged a formal submission with the NSW Department of Communities and Justice, urging the government to expand its coercive control laws to protect adult children from systemic financial slavery inside the family home.
The submission, targeting the 2026 Statutory Review of the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Coercive Control) Act 2022, warns of a legislative blind spot. While current NSW law criminalises economic abuse between intimate partners, it offers zero protection to adult children whose income and identity documents are controlled by dominant parents. Sapience Financial urges NSW to follow the precedent set by the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), which expanded coercive control to cover broader family relationships.
"Every day as risk advisors, we see high-earning young professionals functioning as financial slaves to their families," says Drew Briowne of Sapience Financial. "Their wages are intercepted and their financial literacy is intentionally withheld under the guise of 'tradition.' It is not culture; it is covert coercive control."
The submission cites Federal Court modern slavery precedents (Fair Work Ombudsman v Arunatilaka [2024] and R v Kannan [2021]), pointing out that while Australia prosecutes passport seizure and wage interception when done by employers, the law treats identical behaviour by parents as a private family matter.
Sapience Financial’s submission calls on the NSW Government to expand the statutory definition of domestic relationships before consultations close on 28 August 2026.
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