The government hopes that coercive control legislation introduced to the ACT Legislative Assembly on Thursday will hold abusers to account despite low conviction rates in other states.
Coercive control is a pattern of abusive behaviours a perpetrator uses to subordinate or control their victim, or make them dependent. A review of 12 ACT family and domestic violence murders from 2000 to 2022 found coercive control was present in almost every case.
If passed after being scrutinised by a committee, the bill would make intentionally using coercive or controlling behaviour, that would reasonably harm the victim or make them afraid, punishable by up to seven years in jail.
It intentionally does not define or give examples of coercive or controlling behaviour, Domestic and Sexual Violence Minister Marisa Paterson said.
"The point of the legislation is really to describe an overarching pattern of behavior which is coercive control, and how that manifests can be very, very different in all different circumstances," Dr Paterson said.
Relationships Victoria says examples of coercive control include isolating someone from their support system, monitoring their activity, gaslighting, name-calling and severe criticism, limiting access to money, making rules around sex and jealous accusations.
Coercive control examples:
Coercive control is highly gendered, with perpetrators more likely to be male and victims female, and men with more traditional views on gender are more likely to be abusive. But the law is not limited to intimate-partner relationships.
YWCA Canberra chief executive Frances Crimmins said the organisation sees many elderly women being controlled by their children or their children's spouses.
"It is a key driver to them having to find safe and secure housing, so we really welcome this legislation," Ms Crimmins said.
NSW criminalised coercive control in intimate partner relationships in July 2024, but only recorded its first conviction in February this year.
Callum Farleigh, 34, was found to have monitored his partner's movements, verbally abused her, demanded to access her phone, pressured her for sex when she was recovering from surgery, scrutinised her spending and called and texted excessively her when she was with friends and family.
Queensland and South Australia governments have introduced coercive control laws. According to an ABC article, a Brisbane police officer told one victim they would not take her statement because coercive control was too hard to prove.
Dr Paterson said the government would monitor the success of the ACT legislation.
"I think we are confident with the bill we've presented to the Assembly in terms of concerns by stakeholders raised around misidentification and unintended consequences," she said.
Domestic Violence Crisis Canberra has raised concerns that victims in minority groups, such as First Nations women and LGBTQIA+ people, would be misidentified as perpetrators of coercive control.
Chief executive officer Sue Webeck said having a delayed implementation was critical. Once the legislation passes, there will be a two-year implementation period.
"The delay in implementation timeline is incredibly crucial in the rollout of coercive control into the community to make sure that we are actually delivering training, education and resourcing to circumvent some of the risk that is attached to particularly marginalised community groups," Ms Webeck said.
Dr Paterson said the government ran a successful piloted workshop educating linguistically and culturally diverse Canberrans about coercive control.
"They are often very sensitive, and very challenging conversations, but, we are committed as a government and community to working with the with diverse understandings of domestic violence," she said.
A University of Queensland report found many people from ethnic minority groups misunderstood family violence, with women less likely to recognise abusive behaviour or know their legal rights. Language barriers made them more isolated.
The 2026 Family and Domestic Violence Review found ACT police regularly wrongly identified victims as perpetrators before they died, usually by suicide.
Chief Police Officer Scott Lee said all ACT police officers under the rank of Superintendent were undertaking enhanced family violence training, which includes modules on coercive control and misidentification.
That includes virtual reality training in culturally safe police practices, developed with the First Nations community.
"We have seen a 33 per cent increase in domestic violence over the last three years here in the ACT, we continue to see year on year growth," Deputy Commissioner Lee said.
"The introduction of coercive control now provides us with a standalone offence that, once the legislation is passed, will allow us to take action at an earlier stage to intervene and to disrupt this harmful behaviour."
