Shadow Treasurer Ed Cocks has described the experiences of domestic violence survivors being pursued by the ACT Revenue Office as “traumatic”. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
CONTENT WARNING: This article makes references to domestic and family violence.
A domestic violence victim-survivor who was pursued by the ACT Revenue Office to pay back almost $50,000 after accessing the Home Buyer Concession Scheme (HBCS) has described the process as “akin to coercive control”.
Cathy Weeden had bought a property with her now-ex-husband in 2019. She said the relationship “quickly became emotionally abusive” and she found the courage to leave two years later. This meant the house needed to be sold in mid-2022.
The eligibility criteria to access the scheme are different for first home buyers and those who have experienced family violence.
Ms Weeden applied to the HBCS once she’d found a new home in late 2022. She believed she didn’t need to provide her previous partner’s income as part of the assessment as they were legally separated and had a consent order from the court, had assumed the application needed her taxable income, and paid stamp duty on the amount of her income that was above the threshold when she bought the home.
Nearly 16 months after she had settled on her new home, Ms Weeden received notice that the ACT Revenue Office was investigating her.
She had 21 days to pay back $48,500.
“I felt like a criminal,” Ms Weeden told the committee inquiry into the scheme on Wednesday (15 October).
“I couldn’t breathe [when I read the email] because I already knew I couldn’t borrow money from the bank.”
Ms Weeden owned the mistakes she made in her application, but took particular issue with the compliance re-assessment process, describing it as “months of hell”.
She made several appeals and was told to compile evidence to prove she had experienced family violence.
“Most people who go through those circumstances learn very early on that you don’t tell people, and if you go to get help, it often leads to worse circumstances … my family didn’t know [because] I was so ashamed,” Ms Weeden told the inquiry through tears.
“I had to go to my doctor and I had to disclose things that I would have preferred not to so that they could provide me with some evidence.
“And [the Revenue Office] still came back to me to tell me that they could not apply it retrospectively [as] it would be unfair to every other person who had had to pay [penalties].
“So why did they put me through that?”
Ms Weeden said the process of disclosing her experience of abuse was “completely humiliating” and that communications with the office were “akin to coercive control”.
“They are threatening letters … I understand they’ve got a job to do, but we’re not numbers, we’re people,” she said.
“[There was a] complete disregard for me as a human being. I was literally a number, and I was ‘revenue’.”
Another witness at the inquiry described her engagement with compliance officers as “very confronting”.
“The way they speak to you, it is all incredibly black and white, there’s no acknowledgment of your personal circumstances,” she said.
“It was horrific and incredibly traumatising, and re-traumatising.”
Ms Weeden made several recommendations to the Revenue Office, and in July 2024, many of them were adopted.
These included a new concession code for those applying under the family violence criteria, a new income threshold, and an assessment based on taxable income rather than net income.
ACT Revenue Office Acting Commissioner Lisa Holmes said that since April 2025, the office has changed the language from sending investigation notices to first requesting people provide further information about any changed circumstances.
The time period to pay has been extended from three to eight weeks, and the office is currently making changes to the HBCS website and questionnaire to simplify wording and take a more trauma-informed approach.
When asked why applications weren’t assessed before being granted, Ms Holmes said only about one per cent of applications were found to be non-compliant and that making people give all proof of eligibility documents upfront would delay settlement processes as it would mean the concession couldn’t be granted straight away.
“I think it’s important to recognise that the self-assessment process is working and that most people are able to look at that and put in the correct information,” Ms Holmes said.
Finance Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith added that requiring applicants to provide all documents upfront would create “a lot of hoops” for those who are using the system correctly.
“The risk is you make the process much more time-consuming, much more cumbersome, for the vast majority of people for whom this is currently a very easy, straightforward process,” she said.
“The compliance program itself is what’s caused the trauma, not the original process … and that’s what we’re endeavouring to fix.”
Shadow Treasurer Ed Cocks said the testimony showed the system was failing vulnerable Canberrans and treating them like “numbers” rather than people.
“This is a system that treats a person like a source of revenue and not a person,” he said.
“For survivors of domestic and family violence, for separated families, for first home buyers, the impact is not just financial. It is traumatic.”
If this story has raised any concerns for you, 1800RESPECT, the national 24-hour sexual assault, family and domestic violence counselling line, can be contacted on 1800 737 732. Help and support are also available through the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre on 02 6247 2525, the Domestic Violence Crisis Service ACT 02 6280 0900, the Sexual Violence Legal Services on 6257 4377 and Lifeline on 13 11 14. In an emergency, call Triple Zero.
