The Victorian government will introduce a stand-alone coercive control offence in 2026, marking a major policy reversal after the new opposition leader, Jess Wilson, made the reform her first election commitment.
Wilson last week announced she would create the offence within her first 100 days in office if the Coalition wins the election in November 2026.
At the time, the government maintained existing legislation included coercive behaviour in its definition of family violence, meaning it already was a criminal offence.
But on Wednesday – the same day the Liberals introduced bills in both houses of parliament to establish a coercive control offence – the attorney-general, Sonya Kilkenny, acknowledged “more must be done” – even though Labor voted against the bill in the lower house.
Debate on the bill was adjourned in the upper house, with Labor MPs supporting a separate motion by the Liberals to “urgently expedite” coercive control laws in the state.
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In a statement to Guardian Australia, Kilkenny said the government would “legislate next year to make coercive control a stand-alone criminal offence but it is important this work is not rushed, is informed by consultation and does not result in unintended consequences”.
“Coercive control is insidious, abusive and manipulative – we stand side by side with victim-survivors of family violence and always will,” Kilkenny told Guardian Australia in a statement.
“Our laws recognise this behaviour as a criminal offence already, and protects victims against this – however more must be done.”
The government also has another bill before the upper house, which introduces a two-year minimum term for family violence intervention orders, allows these orders to continue for children after they turn 18 and broadens the definition of family violence to include additional forms of abuse, such as stalking, systems abuse and the mistreatment of animals.
During debate on the Liberals’ bill in the lower house, the minister for women, Natalie Hutchins, described their plan as being “undercooked”, “underdone” and “unfit for purpose”. She said they were attempting to make coercive control a “political issue”.
This was denied by the Coalition.
The Liberal’s spokesperson for women, Cindy McLeish, told the lower house Victoria was “lagging behind” on the reform.
“We are not doing enough in this place, and I urge the government to get behind this bill and help us criminalise coercive control, because it is insidious – living on eggshells all the time, being fearful, intimidated,” McLeish said.
The Liberal bill largely emulated the New South Wales laws passed in 2022. Those laws, which came into effect last year, made coercive control punishable by a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment.
In Queensland, where coercive control laws passed in 2024 and took effect this year, the maximum penalty is 14 years’ imprisonment.
Coercive control describes a broad range of behaviours used to dominate another person, usually an intimate partner. It is almost exclusively perpetrated by men against women and includes isolation, monitoring, gaslighting and financial control.
The issue came to prominence following the murder of Hannah Clarke and her three children in 2020 by her estranged husband.
• In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732.
