A historic reform could be life saving for victim-survivors of domestic abuse after the NSW Government passed a law, passed last Thursday 17 November, to make coercive control a criminal offence. 

The new law will make it an offence to carry out repeated abusive behaviours to a current or former intimate partner with the intent to coerce or control, and will carry a sentence of up to seven years in jail.

While the new law holds obvious relief for community members, victims-survivors, the two and a half years of consultation to inform the law could be revealing of potential issues. 

Western Women’s Legal Support (WWLS) Senior Solicitor Tori Mines said that while recognising non-physical abuse is critical in changing the narrative of domestic violence, there are concerns about the law’s effectiveness. 

“The requirement to prove the offender intended to coerce or control is an extremely high burden to prove beyond reasonable doubt,” Ms Mines said.

“Our concern is that many victim-survivors who have previously not been captured under our criminal law will still fail to be recognised.". 

The limitation of a coercive control offender to intimate partners has also created doubt amongst many community legal centres. 

“(It) does not extend to protect victims of coercive control in broader family and domestic relationships. This fails to appropriately recognise the complexity of domestic and family violence,” Ms Mines said. 

While WWLS have said they will continue to advocate for improvements, in the meantime they want to ensure that the new law is implemented in a way that won’t cause further damage. 

“In order for the new offence to be successfully uptaken, there must be a significant educational and cultural reform prior to the implementation of the offence. Criminalisation without investment in education and front-line specialist funding risks embedding further trauma and disadvantage for victim-survivors,” Ms Mines said. 

Minister for Women’s Safety and Domestic Violence Natalie Ward said that the reforms should go a long way to protecting the most vulnerable. 

“Our community has grieved with the families of too many domestic violence murder victims where the precursor was abusive behaviour that stripped away autonomy and human dignity,” Ms Ward said. 

“There will be an extensive implementation period of at least 14 months and up to 19 months before the laws commence, to allow plenty of time for training, resourcing, education and raising community awareness.” 

The reform comes in the week ahead of White Ribbon Australia Day (25 November), a global movement that includes men and boys working to end male violence against women and girls.