Coercive control under spotlight in new ad campaign

A campaign raising awareness about coercive control is being rolled out ahead of landmark legislation that will criminalise the poorly understood offence in NSW.

“It’s not love, it’s coercive control,” is the campaign tagline to run alongside ads depicting examples of abusive and controlling behaviour.

NSW in July will become the first Australian jurisdiction to outlaw coercive control with a standalone dedicated offence punishable by up to seven years in jail.

Almost every case of domestic violence murder is preceded by coercive control. (Supplied/AAP PHOTOS)

Some 97 per cent of intimate partner domestic violence homicides in NSW between 2000 and 2018 were preceded by coercive control.

Women’s Minister Jodie Harrison said coercive control could include being disconnected from friends and family, having your movements tracked, being told what to wear, not being allowed to get a job and being put in a position where it’s impossible to leave.

“It’s a series of behaviours that are aimed at controlling another person,” she told reporters on Wednesday.

“In isolation, these behaviours might seem minor, but when they add up, they are coercive control.”

Deputy Premier Prue Car says the education campaign is vital to ensure people know what coercive control looks like and let perpetrators know what they are doing is wrong.

“If people don’t understand that the behaviour they’re being subjected to is coercive, controlling, abusive and against the law, then this law will fail,” Attorney-General Michael Daley added.

Author and educator on coercive control Jess Hill says the majority of victim survivors don’t know they’re in an abusive relationship because coercive control is often invisible.

“That’s why this campaign, which clearly shows the sorts of scenarios that so many people who are targeted by coercive controllers are experiencing is so important … it’s making coercive control visible.”

But Greens MP Abigail Boyd baulked at standing beside the government at the launch, saying the campaign was “entirely insufficient”.

“Compare this so-called education campaign to what was done in Scotland and the UK, and the scale of ambition is just worlds apart,” she said.

The campaign was developed with more than 70 stakeholders from a coercive control task force and 10 associated reference groups, including victim-survivors.

A snap national cabinet was also held on Wednesday to address what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese labelled a “domestic violence national emergency”.

Mr Albanese said it would be a national challenge to deal with the scourge of violence against women.

“We recognise that governments need to act, but we also recognise that this is an issue for the whole of society, not just for governments,” he said.

“It’s an issue for civil society, it’s an issue for the media, it’s an issue for all of us to work together in the national interest to deal with what is a scourge of violence against women.”

Violence against women is not “a women’s problem to solve”, the prime minister added.

“It is a whole-of-society problem to solve and men in particular have to take responsibility.”

1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)

Lifeline 13 11 14