DV support services say more women are seeking help for coercive control since new state laws
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Frontline domestic violence support services say more women are identifying themselves as victims of coercive control and seeking help since the abusive behaviour became a criminal offence in NSW.
Coercive control describes a pattern of controlling and manipulative behaviour in intimate partner relationships such as financial abuse, tracking, monitoring and humiliation.
A snapshot of the new coercive control laws, which came into effect in July 2024, suggest there has been a “slow but consistent” uptake of the new offences.
There were 297 reports of coercive control reported to NSW Police between July 2024 and June 2025, according to the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR).
Despite that, just nine charges have been laid to date.
BOCSAR’s executive director Jackie Fitzgerald said those figures were anticipated to an extent because of how “novel” the offence is.
“Coercive control requires a pattern of behaviour, and that’s quite an unusual element of offences,” she said.
“There also needs to be an element of intention by the offender, and that also makes it difficult to prove these offences in the courts.”
The median time between a coercive control incident occurring and a person being charged was 131 days.
For most other offences, that process takes less than a week.
Of the nine charges laid, just one has resulted in a conviction, after the defendant pleaded guilty.
Two were withdrawn by prosecutors and the other six remain pending before the court.
Ms Fitzgerald said she expects the number of charges laid to steadily increase once a coercive control case proceeds to trial.
“We’re really still waiting for that test case to come through, which will establish how the courts are going to respond to coercive control and what’s required in order to prove [it],” she said.
“The longer time goes on … there’ll be more cases to draw on to establish that pattern of behaviour.”
Read more https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-19/slow-but-consistent-uptake-of-new-coercive-control-laws-nsw/105795204
Content retrieved from: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-19/slow-but-consistent-uptake-of-new-coercive-control-laws-nsw/105795204.
