Christie Hayes is no stranger to adversity; the straight-shooting former soap star turned Tassie-based radio host knows better than most what it means to be up against a wall with seemingly no way out.
The young mother spends most of her days close to nature in New Norfolk, enjoying time with her husband Justin and her 11-year-old son Hendrix, but her intimate relationships – through no fault of her own – weren’t always as healthy and loving as they are today.
Escaping a relationship founded on threatening behaviour, coercion, and financial abuse wasn’t easy for Hayes, but she still refers to herself as “one of the lucky people”.
“I had access to money. I could take out credit cards, and I incurred a lot of debt … I spent thousands and thousands of dollars to protect myself, and I was just one of the lucky people,” she said.
“I had access to loans, credit cards and a good credit rating because I had a long working history, but without all of that, I wouldn’t have been able to protect myself at all.”
On Wednesday, just hours after Anglicare released the Cost of Leaving Report, which found the cost of escaping domestic violence had risen 71 per cent in the last decade, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said women under threat of intimate partner violence should “not put up with it”.
“I just feel that if you’re not in a house where you feel safe, you feel you don’t want to be there, then you shouldn’t put up with it,” she said.
Senator Hanson later sought to clarify she felt domestic violence was “a scourge,” but the comment was widely interpreted by advocates as a suggestion that women shouldn’t find it too difficult to leave an abusive situation.
“What an ignorant comment. When I heard her say women shouldn’t put up with it, I thought ‘My God, what a privileged position to be in’. What a ridiculous thing to say,” Hayes said.
“It was so gross and the worst part was, she doubled down on it. Is she forgetting that it’s not as easy to just up and leave or even get a man who is violent kicked out of the house?”
Senator Hanon’s comments on the Broken Fathers Podcast late last year suggesting family courts were a “cash cow” for women receiving child support payments have also since resurfaced.
Hayes, who has now spent several years in the domestic violence advocacy space, said she had spoken to “thousands of women” during her time as a radio host.
“They reach out to me and share their experiences of being trapped, being too scared, losing their kids, all the drama with family law, not being able to afford a lawyer and not being able to get out of the house,” she said.
“And when you see a leader speaking like that, it completely minimises what a woman actually has to go through to leave.”
According to the Cost of Leaving Report, the average cost for a woman to escape domestic violence and resettle her life is just more than $7000; more than $2000 higher than it was 10 years ago.
Anglicare general manager of relationships and wellbeing Clare Dunlop said the focus of support for victims of domestic violence often centred on the physical, emotional and social challenges they endured, but rarely was there space left for financial discussions.
“We know that financial abuse is a common feature of domestic and family violence, and it actually can continue to affect victim survivors even long after the separation,” Ms Dunlop said.
“Sometimes people ask, ‘Why doesn’t she just leave?’ but that’s the wrong question. The question is why is it not possible for somebody to leave? What is causing them to stay in that situation?
“Outside of rent, there are costs associated with leaving that we don’t even tend to think about. You might have somewhere to live, but what about whitegoods? Is there a kettle, a toaster, a bed, or linen? What about pets, can the dog come? What about the kids? The list goes on.”
Hayes said women in financially abusive relationships were unlikely to be able to spontaneously generate $7000 in the current economic climate.
“Who can just come up with $7000 quickly? No one can unless you are on a six-figure salary and even that is a stretch nowadays … I can’t even imagine how stressful it is,” she said.
The report makes three key policy recommendations centred around improved financial support, expanded housing and accommodation reform and heightened economic and employment protections.
The Leaving Violence Program is capped at $5000 for domestic violence victims attempting to restart their lives, and Anglicare has urged the federal government to raise the grant cap to $7000.
The organisation has also called for expansions for purpose-built transitional and long-term housing options, which exist in limited numbers.
As of May 2026, there are more than 70,000 households waiting to be allocated into social housing in NSW.
Hayes believes the system has created an environment where victims are forced to jump through more hoops than perpetrators and has advocated for clearer tenancy rights and greater government support.
“I lived in Woolloomooloo, right next door to Kings Cross when those really tragic coward punches happened. I welcomed the lockout laws, it was great, but it was also two men,” she said.
“There’s been 38 women killed this year alone, 79 women the year before and 106 women the year before that. This is a serious crisis.”
Read related topics:One NationPauline Hanson