New laws to criminalise coercive control

Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny in her second reading speech said family violence was ‘the number one law and order issue that is destroying lives, harming children across generations and destabilising homes, communities and our broader society’. 

She said the Justice Legislation Amendment (Family Violence, Coercive Control, Good Character, Risk Assessment and Other Matters) Bill 2026, was ‘about listening and responding to the voices of victim-survivors,' adding that the reforms would 'prioritise victim-survivor safety, improve the efficiency of justice processes and ensure perpetrators of all forms of interpersonal violence can be held to account'. 

She described coercive control as ‘an insidious form of abuse used, usually by a man, to intimidate, humiliate, surveil, gaslight or isolate another person, usually a female intimate partner, and strip them of their sense of autonomy and self-worth so as to have control over them’. 

The bill also abolishes the use of 'good character' as a mitigating factor in sentencing and introduces a new protected attribute of 'subjection to family violence' under the Equal Opportunity Act. 

'Currently, victim-survivors are having to sit in court and hear that the person who harmed them is a person of 'good character',' Ms Kilkenny said.  

Member for Southern Metropolitan Georgie Crozier told the Legislative Council that 32 women were killed by an intimate partner nationally in 2024-25 and that Victoria recorded more than 106,000 family violence incidents during the same period. 

She said there was broad community support for stronger action. 

'Everyone agrees that family violence does not discriminate. It does not matter what age, sexuality, gender or culture you are; it is happening right across society and right across our communities,' she said. 

“ 'Currently, victim-survivors are having to sit in court and hear that the person who harmed them is a person of 'good character'.' ”

Sonya Kilkenny, Attorney-General

Drawing on information from Relationships Australia Victoria, she outlined examples including isolation from family and friends, financial control, gaslighting, monitoring daily activities and threats against children or pets. 

‘What this bill does primarily is prioritise safety for victims of family violence by introducing new crimes, tackling the efficiency of justice processes and holding perpetrators of family violence more effectively to account,’ she said. 

“ 'It does not matter what age, sexuality, gender or culture you are; it is happening right across society and right across our communities.' ”

Georgie Crozier, Member for Southern Metropolitan

North-Eastern Metropolitan MP Sonja Terpstra said the new bill would introduce reforms including protections against discrimination for victim-survivors, changes to intervention order processes and the abolition of good-character arguments in certain sentencing matters.  

'This bill is about listening and responding to the voices of victim-survivors,' she said. 

She acknowledged concerns raised by stakeholders about the potential misidentification of victim-survivors, particularly First Nations women, under the new coercive control offence.  

She said the Attorney-General had established an expert advisory body to assist with implementation and monitor risks.  

Evan Mulholland, Member for Northern Metropolitan said the reforms would help create a justice system that gives victim-survivors 'greater protection, greater dignity and greater confidence when they engage with courts and justice agencies'. 

'Coercive control is a serious and insidious form of family violence,' he said. 

While supporting the bill, he said it missed opportunities to introduce reforms such as a scheme similar to the UK’s ‘Clare's Law’ whereby people are able to obtain information about a current or former partner's history of domestic or family violence where there is a risk to their safety. 

‘People entering relationships should not unknowingly be placed at risk because important information about a violent history is sitting somewhere within a government or police system that cannot be disclosed to them,’ he said. 

Member for Northern Victoria Georgie Purcell backed the legislation but raised concerns about whether criminalising coercive control would deliver the intended outcomes.  

'Coercive control is a defining feature of family violence,' she said, while noting stakeholder concerns that a standalone offence could result in misidentification and retraumatisation of victim-survivors.

Ms Purcell said the key question was 'whether criminalisation of coercive control and defining it in legislation is the best way to protect people from this very serious form of harm'. 

She said evidence shows that criminal coercive control offences produce relatively low charge and conviction rates.  

‘However, they can result in really high rates of misidentification. When prosecutions fail, are withdrawn or result in acquittals, victim-survivors can be left also feeling disbelieved when they have in fact experienced family violence,' she said

The full debate can be found in Hansard.