As a Victims of Crime lawyer, I often have family violence victim survivors coming to me with chilling stories of coercive control. They recount to me situations of isolation, deprivation, intimidation and humiliation at the hands of their abuser, and ask me if they can make an application for assistance to the Tribunal. I then have to ask them, “did the Alleged Offender ever physically assault you? Or threaten to? Did they ever sexually assault you? Or attempt to?” Essentially disregarding what they have disclosed to me and attempting to find an act of violence that is recognised as either a common law offence or an offence under the Crimes Act 1958. Only then am I able to proceed with their application.
Family violence is not always physical. Coercive control encompasses actions within a domestic relationship that display a pattern of threatening, restricting and degrading behaviour. This can include physical and sexual abuse, as well as emotional and financial abuse. For family violence victim survivors, coercive control is a significant and valid form of family violence.
In Queensland, the move to criminalise coercive control followed the 2020 murders of Hannah Clarke and her three children. Clarke and her children were fatally burned in her car in a petrol fire lit by her estranged husband. It later emerged that Clarke had been the victim of coercive control throughout the marriage.
In New South Wales, the Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Amendment (Coercive Control – Preethi’s Law) Bill 2020 amended the Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007 to create an offence of engaging in conduct that constitutes coercive control. Conduct includes making the other person dependant on the person, isolating the other person from sources of support, controlling the other person’s day-to-day activities, depriving the other person of their freedom, depriving the other person of access to support services, or acting in a way that frightens, humiliates, degrades or punishes the other person. Internationally, legislation has been introduced in the UK criminalising coercive control, following a campaign by Women’s Aid.
Of course, not all behaviour of the kind listed above meets the threshold of being considered coercive control. This does create the potential for frivolous claims to be brought before the courts. To address this issue, the New South Wales legislation makes reasonableness a defence in criminal proceedings brought against a person for coercive control offences. This means that it is a defence if the conduct is reasonable in the particular circumstances.
As of 12 August 2022, Australia’s attorneys-general met to discuss ensuring consistent coercive control laws are implemented nationally. This reform will not only ameliorate the criminal justice system, but allow victims of coercive control across Australia to access the assistance necessary to their recovery.
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