NSW is moving closer to outlawing coercive control, which the attorney-general says could save lives.
The legislation returned to parliament after the government committed to outlawing historically overlooked coercive control as part of its response to a parliamentary inquiry.
The abuse involves denying autonomy and independence, including controlling someone's finances, communication and familial contact.
Attorney-General Mark Speakman admitted he had no idea about coercive control when he became domestic violence prevention minister three years ago.
"I suspect there's a lot of ignorance out there, but criminalising it will raise community awareness," he said on Wednesday.
The government undertook "unprecedented consultation" formulating the bill.
"The fact that it's challenging is not an excuse for doing nothing," Mr Speakman said.
A coercive control conviction will carry a maximum seven-year sentence.
Prosecutors will have to prove perpetrators repeatedly and continuously engaged in abusive behaviour, and prove they intended to coerce or control.
Criminalisation applies to current or former partner relationships, but not be retroactive.
Not all of the groups consulted are supporting the bill in its current form.
Domestic Violence NSW, Wirringa Baiya Aboriginal Women's Legal Centre, Women's Legal Service NSW, and the Redfern Legal Centre are among them.
The organisations cited concerns with the required proof of intent and its limitation to intimate partners.
A lack of a contextual definition for domestic abuse will cause confusion, and the laws being implemented in 2024 did not give enough time for police to be adequately trained, they said.
"We are concerned that important issues raised by experts in the field have not been sufficiently heeded," DVNSW acting chief executive Renata Field said, calling for more consultation.
Mr Speakman said a review of the legislation would take place three years after it's implemented, and it could be expanded to address some of those concerns.
The requirement to prove intention could be lessened to recklessness, he suggested.
The government has earmarked $4.9 million to fund education, training and awareness about coercive control for the police, judiciary and public.
Coercive control almost always precedes partner homicides, Mr Speakman said.
The same was not true for elder abuse and other forms of domestic abuse, prompting the initial restriction to intimate partner relationships, which could be expanded in the future.
Nithya Reddy said her sister, Dr Preethi Reddy, would still be alive if coercive control had been criminalised before her non-physically abusive partner killed her in March 2019.
"Her killer's first act of physical violence was to take her life," Dr Reddy said.
"She didn't know that she was in danger, I didn't realise she was in physical danger."
"Non-physical, controlling abuse is not less pernicious (or) less evil than physical violence," she said.
Coercive control is a crime in other parts of the world but the attorney-general says the NSW laws are, necessarily, unique.
After the state bolstered other laws targeting domestic violence, 28 per cent of court finalisations and 52 per cent of custodial penalties involved Indigenous people, who comprise 3.4 per cent of the NSW population.
Mr Speakman noted the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research attributed the increase to policing rather than the laws.
"That's not to have a go at police ... what it demonstrates is if you have a criminal law, you've got to be very conscious of the extent that it could be used and the sort of people it could be used to incarcerate," Mr Speakman said.
"I'm very conscious that we have a target of reducing Indigenous incarceration by 2031, and we are a long way from meeting that target," Mr Speakman said.
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