Moves to outlaw an insidious and often hard to detect form of domestic violence have taken a major step forward, with the State Government seeking the community’s feedback on laws aimed at criminalising coercive control.
Coercive control is when a perpetrator intentionally tries to control their victim, or make them behave in a certain way through fear, intimidation and manipulation – impairing their autonomy to make their own choices and act on their own preferences and best interests.
Today, the Government released a draft Bill for public comment involving the creation of a new criminal offence of coercive control, capturing a broad range of behaviours experienced by victim-survivors experiencing this type of domestic violence perpetrated by an intimate partner or former partner.
Under the proposed reforms, the law would focus on a perpetrator’s intent to control rather than specific acts of abuse and will criminalise a pattern of behaviour that is intended to cause apprehension, fear and/or a loss of self-worth.
The offence does not necessarily need to involve violent behaviour.
The Bill has been drafted with input from a range of community groups and sector representatives, including:
*Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and organisations;
*Culturally and Linguistically Diverse community leaders;
*Embolden Voices for Change Lived Experience Group;
*Young people and organisations that work with young people;
*LGBTIQA+ community members and organisations;
*Community members living with disability and disability organisations.
These groups provided significant feedback to help develop the Bill, including providing examples drawn from lived experience of victim-survivors.
The Government is now seeking feedback from the South Australian community on the Bill via YourSAy www.yoursay.sa.gov.au/coercive-control and will also be holding public information sessions to discuss the proposal. More information on those sessions can be found at YourSAy.
As put by Kyam Maher
This is a complex, but necessary piece of legislation to better protect those who may be experiencing – or are at risk of experiencing – domestic and family violence.
It’s a form of abuse that’s often subtle and may not involve physical violence, which is why it’s so important we get this piece of work right.
We’ve consulted extensively with victim-survivors of domestic and family violence and groups that support them, with this Bill a direct result of that work.
Their advice has been invaluable, and now it’s time for the broader community to have their say.
This is a law that could directly or indirectly impact many South Australians, which is why feedback from the public is so important.
In developing the Bill, we have tried to make the law accessible to everyone by using clear, simple language and including examples of controlling behaviour, as well as highlighting the subtle and often indirect nature of the offending.
As put by Katrine Hildyard
Research has shown in 99 per cent of domestic violence homicides, coercive control was a factor in the relationship prior to this horrific act. This is utterly shocking. We must do all that we can to prevent and end it. This community consultation is a step forward in doing so.
Earlier this year, Sue and Lloyd Clarke, the courageous parents and grandparents of the late Hannah Clarke and her beautiful three children, addressed our packed See the Signs forum and bravely encouraged us to progress this crucial legislation.
We are determined to do so in honour of the many women, those we have tragically lost and brave victim-survivors, who have suffered through this insidious form of domestic violence. We moved a bill to criminalise coercive control when in Opposition and following broad consultation, we will bring this bill to the Parliament.
Consulting broadly with our community on the bill follows our extensive See the Signs campaign which has helped raise awareness about coercive control and encouraged people experiencing or perpetrating it to seek support. It also follows detailed feedback from a diverse range of groups in our community.
We know that coercive control is pervasive in our community, but our laws currently do not adequately recognise these insidious controlling behaviours as amounting to a criminal offence. This bill will do so, and it will ensure we no longer only respond to incidents but also to patterns of domestic violence.
A person can be coercively controlled in a range of ways, including through monitoring and tracking, damage to property, intimidation and threats, isolation from loved ones and constant belittling.
The examples referred to in the draft law have come from brave victim-survivors’ real-world experiences. We will ensure their voices are heard as we continue towards introduction of the bill and discussions with our community.
We are deeply committed to tackling every form of domestic violence and criminalising coercive control is a crucial part of doing so. I look forward to continuing to engage with our community and to introducing this bill to our parliament.
