If Not Now, When? YWCA Canberra supports the criminalisation of coercive control in the ACT.

YWCA Canberra welcomes the announcement by the Canberra Liberals to present a Bill to criminalise coercive control in the ACT.

The proposed legislative reform follows the 2023 review of 12 domestic and family violence homicides in the ACT between 2000 and 2022. This review found that coercive controlling behaviours were present in nearly all cases subject to the review and that addressing coercive control was a key area for future focus by the ACT Government, policing and the broader community.

The national conversation to criminalise coercive control has progressed while the ACT has been left behind. The Bill presented by the Canberra Liberals mirrors legislation already introduced or drafted elsewhere in Australia and importantly, it acknowledges the tapestry of behaviours that have been linked to coercive control such as threats of suicide, stalking and reproductive coercion.

CEO of YWCA Canberra, Frances Crimmins “YWCA Canberra is not alone in supporting this legislative reform. We know through the 2022 Monash University survey of nearly 1300 survivors of domestic violence that survivors overwhelmingly support criminalisation. It is evident in police data that domestic violence incidents and offences in the ACT continue to increase and we know that non-physical forms of violence that degrade, humiliate, control, stalk or isolate are abundantly present in survivor stories of domestic violence. Coercive control is intrinsic to domestic and family violence.”

CEO of YWCA Canberra Frances Crimmins continues: “YWCA Canberra has consistently supported broad community education programs relating to a number of violence reform areas including positive consent. We support education campaigns in principle, but they should not negate the need for legislative reform. There is simply no reason why two things, education and legislation, cannot happen at once.”