SHENANE HOGG:  I find that the river just gives me that quiet time you know, quietens the noise in my brain.

I actually find the river really healing, just the sound of the waves lapping and the birds.

ELLA ARCHIBALD-BINGE, REPORTER:  Shenane Hogg is a survivor.

The Torres Strait and South Sea Islander woman has become a strong voice in her Perth community but the story of how she got here is nothing short of extraordinary.

SHENANE HOGG:  I’ve done a lot of work over the years to try and get myself mentally and spiritually and emotionally back to where I need to be because there was that point in my recovery where when I would get a trigger even a smell, a sound, you know anything, it would paralyse me.

ELLA ARCHIBALD-BINGE:  In 2017, Shenane woke from a nine-month induced coma. An attack from her then-partner had left her fighting for life.

The perpetrator was jailed for the assault while Shenane was left with a traumatic brain injury.

SHENANE HOGG:  I didn’t even know if I was going to be back talking and walking properly, you know, the way I had been.

ELLA ARCHIBALD-BINGE:  It had been the last in a series of physical assaults, but Shenane says the first red flag was more subtle.

SHENANE HOGG:  I was employed, he was on and off employed and it started with me paying for stuff.

And then it extended to lending, you know, people in his family money, and, you know, him taking my key card off me.

There was a lot of times when I wasn’t even able to buy the basics of you know, just toiletries, food even.

I felt stupid. I felt like an idiot, you know. I had been able to secure myself a fantastic job, and yet at home, I was just copping ridiculous behaviour.

ELLA ARCHIBALD-BINGE:  Shenane says when she confronted him the abuse would escalate.  

SHENANE HOGG:  Eventually it would turn physical, I would end up with a black eye and so in the end, I was like a meek, mild mouse not saying anything but really, I was raging inside. 

ELLA ARCHIBALD-BINGE:  It wasn’t until after she woke from her coma that she realised the full extent of the financial abuse.   

SHENANE HOGG:  He’d encouraged me to apply for three different credit cards. He’d actually clocked up quite a large amount on those credit cards.

I found out that I was about $56,000 in debt.

ELLA ARCHIBALD-BINGE:  Shenane is now debt free and works to raise awareness about brain injuries and domestic violence, but she says it took around eight years, and plenty of help, to get here. 

SHENANE HOGG:  I was literally being left with like, about $48 a fortnight for about two years.

If I didn’t have that financial abuse, and I didn’t have that debt, I would have been able to kickstart my life again a lot easier.

ZANETA MASCARENHAS, LABOR MP:  Financial abuse is something that can touch anyone.

ELLA ARCHIBALD-BINGE:  Shenane shared her story with local MP, Zaneta Mascarenhas – a former engineer elected as the federal member for Swan two years ago.

ZANETA MASCARENHAS:  As we got to know each other, I found out why she moved to WA, and she shared her incredibly powerful story.

SHARLENE JETTA:  Case loads here are very high – it’s doubled. We would definitely be able to employ another financial counsellor, but we still wouldn’t meet the needs.

ELLA ARCHIBALD-BINGE:  The Labor MP proposed a federal parliamentary inquiry into financial abuse which will begin hearings in July.

ZANETA MASCARENHAS:  I want to make sure that everybody understands what financial abuse is. I want them to understand what the traits are, so they can identify it.

REBECCA GLENN, CENTRE FOR WOMEN’S ECONOMIC SAFETY:  This inquiry is really exciting, because it gives us an opportunity to review some of the regulations and the laws and products that were created and designed before there was much awareness of domestic violence.

ELLA ARCHIBALD-BINGE:  Rebecca Glenn is the head of the Centre for Women’s Economic Safety.

She says financial abuse is under-recognised despite affecting around one in six women, according to a government survey.

REBECCA GLENN:  So that can look like restricting access to bank accounts or money. It could be exploitation, so putting debts in someone’s name, or it might be that they sabotage their ability to even earn an income.

ELLA ARCHIBALD-BINGE:  A key aspect of the inquiry will look at how banks identify and prevent financial abuse.

For Shenane Hogg, dealing with various banks only compounded her trauma.

SHENANE HOGG:  It was really hard to just try and get them to understand, like, I agree, it’s my debt, you know, because it’s in my name, but I’ve had a brain injury and I’m trying to get myself back together and I’m trying to work something out with you.

I would get, “Look you need to pay it, and you need to pay it now”.

ANNA BLIGH, AUSTRALIAN BANKING ASSOCIATION:  Inside each of our banks, they have specialist teams, who work with all customers who might be experiencing financial problems, and those teams are given specific training in recognising abusive situations.

ELLA ARCHIBALD-BINGE:  Anna Bligh heads up the peak body for Australian banks and says the industry has developed guidelines on how to deal with financial abuse.

ANNA BLIGH:  Banks can do so much, but ultimately, they’re not social workers or psychologists and, but they take the opportunity to refer people to services when they can.

ELLA ARCHIBALD-BINGE:  One issue the industry is tackling is abuse in online payments – where customers make multiple transfers, often only one or two cents, and send threatening messages in the description.  

Australian banks reported intercepting more than half a million abusive transactions over a two-year period.

Ninety per cent of customers stopped the abuse after a warning letter from their bank.

ANNA BLIGH:  Banks are in a unique position to identify financial abuse, and to support women and others who are experiencing it. So that responsibility is taken very seriously. There’s always more work that can be done.

ELLA ARCHIBALD-BINGE:  As the inquiry gets underway, Shenane Hogg hopes it will encourage more women to speak out and create new supports that were not available to her.

SHENANE HOGG:  I just know that blackfellas are resilient, you know, doesn’t matter what you do to us, we get back up, and we keep going.

I think I’ve been able to draw from my ancestors and been able to take that, and just keep on pushing forward. Keep moving forward.