This afternoon every member of Labor and the Greens voted against Leanne Castley’s proposed legislation to criminalise coercive control.

Ms Castley, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, moved a private member’s bill to legislate a standalone criminal offence for the form of domestic and family violence.

“Today the government has voted against protecting Canberrans from coercive control, and bringing perpetrators of domestic violence to justice. They have voted against legislation which would have prevented tragic deaths and kept families together," Ms Castley said.

“While this government has voted to continue to wait before criminalising coercive control, our justice system must wait for tragedies to occur before they can prosecute domestic and family violence.

“History will not be kind to this government, which has betrayed the most vulnerable in our community. This government has failed to take action on coercive control, which will keep killing and keep tearing families apart."

NSW, Queensland, Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia have all either criminalised coercive control or continued to do so. Today the government had the opportunity to bring the ACT into step with the vast majority of Australia that has committed to taking coercive control seriously.

Instead, Labor and the Greens voted to protect perpetrators of domestic and family violence, and to allow the horrifying outcomes of coercive control to continue in our community.

Joining Ms Castley, Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee, Shadow Minister for Women Nicole Lawder and Shadow Attorney-General Peter Cain all spoke in favour of the bill and its efforts to prevent tragic outcomes in the community.

Labor Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Yvette Berry, made the disingenuous claim that the legislation would negatively impact Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Despite this, a 2023 study by Monash University found that 85% of First Nations victim-survivors of domestic and family violence believed coercive control should be criminalised.

Overall, 87.5% of victim-survivors participating in the study stated that coercive control should be made a criminal offence.

"The Labor-Greens Government engaged in a pathetic display of politics today, choosing to ignore the desperate calls from the community to criminalise a deadly form of abuse.

"By blocking the Canberra Liberals’ legislation, the government has accepted a status quo where 99% of intimate partner homicides are preceded by coercive control, and police and the justice system cannot intervene.

"The Canberra Liberals will not accept a status quo where domestic violence rates are increasing, where more women are tragically losing their lives, and where families are being torn apart by coercive control.

“The Canberra Liberals will not stop fighting until we have a criminal justice that protects victim survivors, with the capacity to intervene before tragedy occurs, before families are torn apart, and before more women are murdered by abusers who have gone unpunished,” Ms Castley concluded.