The Canberra Liberals will introduce legislation to create a standalone criminal offence for coercive control, bringing the ACT in line with other jurisdictions including New South Wales and Queensland.

Criminalising coercive control will reform how the legal system handles domestic violence, by moving away from an incident-based approach and towards an approach that prosecutes ongoing abusive behaviours.

Deputy Leader and Shadow Minister for Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Leanne Castley and Shadow Attorney-General Peter Cain announced that the Canberra Liberals will introduce a private member’s bill amid ongoing calls for governments to do more to protect families from domestic violence.

“The community is calling for a serious and proactive approach to combatting domestic and family violence, and that is exactly what the Canberra Liberals will do,” Ms Castley said.

“The Government’s own Domestic and Family Violence Risk Assessment and Management Framework from 2022 warned that 99% of intimate partner domestic violence homicides involved coercive control.

“Despite other jurisdictions criminalising it or taking action to criminalise it, the Government has failed to address this scourge of abusive behaviour in our community.

“In 2020 Minister Berry said that she was undertaking consultation on the criminalisation of coercive control. Four years later and the Labor-Greens Government is still sitting on its hands, maintaining a “watching brief”. This is not good enough and people are rightfully angry.” Ms Castley concluded.

Concurrent with the introduction of our private member’s bill criminalising coercive control, the Canberra Liberals will introduce an education campaign.

Shadow Attorney General Peter Cain said it is long overdue that action be taken to criminalise abusive behaviour.

“This is about sending a message that coercive control is domestic violence. We cannot stop abusive behaviour if we wait for an incident of violence to occur. Coercive control is unacceptable, it ruins lives and it leads to tragic outcomes.”

“This criminal offence will draw a line in the sand. It will also ensure that the ACT’s legislation is consistent with other jurisdictions, particularly NSW with whom we share a border,” Mr Cain concluded.

This is the result of extensive work. The bill is now with the Parliamentary Counsel’s Office, and we are hopeful to have an exposure draft for circulation by next week.

The Canberra Liberals are continuing to explore further initiatives for the prevention of domestic and family violence.