My wife and I have joint accounts at Westpac. Either one of us can set up direct credits etc. Doesn't need both of us.

Probably best to talk to your bank to get the correct answer for your situation.

It depends on how you set up the joint account, there are multiple options.

 One party can act on their own, so not sure what went wrong then. Thanks.

tardtasticx: Depends on the account setup. You can have joint accounts that require 2/all parties to sign, or each one party can act on their own.

If you have the latter then you can do a direct debit with only your name, if the former you’ll need both.

There are other joint account types however where this won’t apply and other rules will kick in but the above likely covers your scenario.