On 1 August 2023, the Domestic and Family Violence Protection (Combating Coercive Control) and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2023 came into effect. It makes major changes to the Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act 2012 (“the Act”) and empowers the Courts to address coercive control.
What is Coercive Control?
Coercive control is a form of family and domestic violence. Coercive control can be harder to identify than other forms of abuse. In general, it refers to a pattern of behaviours which, over time, are used by a perpetrator to control their partner and deny them autonomy.
Coercive control underpins most family and domestic violence but, unlike more overt acts of violence such as physical abuse, it can be harder to identify even by the victim themselves.
In some relationships physical violence and coercive control go hand in hand but in others, coercive control exists by itself.
Coercive control instils a sense of fear that permeates every aspect of a victim’s life. People often describe it as “walking on eggshells”. They often find it difficult to explain the basis for their fears and doubt themselves or their experiences.
There is not one specific definition of coercive control however there are a number of common behaviours which are used by perpetrators to exert control. For example:-
- Emotional manipulation including gaslighting which causes a victim to deny their own truth and accept the perpetrators narrative or events or situations.
- Degradation, humiliation and extreme bullying which impacts on a person’s self-esteem.
- Monitoring the activities of another person. For example, constant calls and text messages, insisting on access to the victims mobile or other devices or using surveillance equipment to monitor movements.
- Isolating a person from their family or friends thereby reducing their support networks.
- Limiting access to money, controlling finances, or not allowing access to transport.
- Weaponising children by turning children against the victim, threatening to take the children if the victim leaves or denigrating the victim to the children.
- Threatening to harm family, children, or pets if the victim is not compliant.
- Controlling when the victim can eat, sleep or do particular activities.
- Abuse of Court and other processes after separation. For example, bringing a cross application when the victim makes an application for a Protection Order, reporting the victim to police or Child Protection authorities or professional bodies.
So, what has changed?
There have been a number of changes to various pieces of legislation aimed at addressing coercive control including changes to the Act. We have set out below some of the more important changes.
Amendment to the meaning of Domestic Violence
Section 8(1) of the Act which defines domestic violence has been amended to include ‘patterns of behaviour’ as opposed to single acts which allows the Court to look at patterns of behaviour to determine the cumulative effect and impact of those behaviours.
Amendments to the definition of stalking
The definition of unlawful stalking will be expanded in the criminal code. The legislation has been modernised to include all forms of technology used to stalk victims and now covers the use of tracking devices, drones, checking personal device histories, reading a person’s SMS messages, monitoring a person’s email accounts or internet browser history.
Cross Applications
Often, a victim who seeks the assistance of the Court to obtain a Protection Order can be faced with a cross application by the perpetrator.
Section 41C(2)(a) of the Act now requires that the applications are heard together and the new section 41G requires the Court to determine which of the parties is in more need of protection, make an order in that party’s favour and dismiss the other application (save for in exceptional circumstances).
A new section 22A provides some assistance in determining ‘who is the person most in need of protection.
Other Changes
The Court must now consider the respondent’s criminal and domestic violence history when deciding whether to make a Protection Order.
Victims of domestic and family violence are now classified as protected witnesses and can no longer be cross examined personally by their abusers. Legal aid funding will be made available for the cross examination where the accused perpetrator is self-represented in the same way as the protections afforded by S102NA of the Family Law Act.
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