I BACKGROUND

In November 2022, the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Coercive Control) Act 2022 (The Act)  was passed by the NSW Parliament, which criminalised coercive control in current and former intimate partner relationships, commencing from the 1st of July 2024.[1]Coercive control is a form of domestic abuse and is defined as ‘when someone repeatedly hurts, scares or isolates another person to control them’.[2] The Act requires the offender to hold an intent to coerce or control in a relationship, causing fear of violence or a serious adverse impact on the victim’s daily activities.[3] Physical violence has primarily been the target of domestic violence legislation, leading many victim-survivors to feel unheard regarding other forms of domestic abuse such as emotional, financial and sexual abuse. The creation of this offence aims to address critiques to this traditional framework of criminal law and its responses to domestic and family violence.[4]

The trend of domestic violence in Australia has significantly increased in the past decade in both Greater Sydney and Regional NSW, underlining the importance of a call to action.[5] This amendment is a landmark development in Australian efforts to further combat domestic violence as NSW was the first state to implement such legislation. However, this response comes almost a decade late to global responses on this issue. Similar offences were created in England and Wales in 2015 to address domestic and family violence that involves a range of issues beyond what is typically addressed by criminal law.[6]

 This article discusses the benefits of the implementation of coercive control legislation in NSW and explores its critiques to assess the effectiveness.

II BENEFITS

The implementation of coercive control legislation in NSW has been beneficial in promoting awareness to this previously under-recognised form of domestic violence. Government campaigns following the passing of the Act create avenues for Australian’s to learn to recognise patterns of coercive control, and campaigns have been tailored to Australia’s multicultural environment with the inclusion of different languages to increase accessibility.[7] BOSCAR’s statistics depict the success of both the legislation and awareness surrounding coercive control as within the first year the legislation came into effect, 297 incidents of coercive control were recorded by the NSW police.[8] As a result, the coercive control legislation in NSW has been beneficial in allowing individuals to reflect on their relationships and have allowed many to seek help if necessary.[9]

Moreover, the Domestic Violence Death Review Team indicates through several reports that most intimate partner homicides in NSW are preceded by coercive behaviour by the offender.[10] As previously mentioned, a large complaint leading to the criminalisation of coercive control stems from the criminal law’s traditional focus on physical violence as opposed to non-physical forms of abuse. Creating a new focus on coercive control can enable both police and the courts to intervene in incidents of non-physical domestic violence before it escalates into life-threatening violence.[11] This is an extremely significant benefit held by the criminalisation of coercive control as not only can it provide justice for victims affected by non-physical abuse, but it can save lives.

Furthermore, 2026 saw Callum Fairleigh become the first person in NSW to serve time in prison for coercive control.[12] While the case details have not been publicly released, this sentence is a big step forward to the greater recognition of coercive control in intimate relationships and can act as a pillar of hope for victim-survivors that a just outcome can be reached.

III CRITIQUES

Despite the many benefits the Act’s creation holds, several critiques can be made to question the effectiveness of this amendment. A report from BOCSAR in June 2025 showed that despite nearly 300 recorded incidents of coercive control in the first year, only 9 charges of coercive control were laid by police to date.[13] Despite an increased awareness, this large gap between incidents and charges underlines a lack of results achieved by this legislation and key sections of the Act suggest reasons as to why this might be.

Firstly, coercive control in an intimate relationship commonly occurs over many years of abuse. Within the Act, only abuse commencing after 1 July 2024 is applicable for criminalisation which creates difficulty for victims to compile enough evidence for a charge to be made.[14] Additionally, intent of the offender to coerce the victim is also required for a charge and proving this can be difficult for victims if abuse before 1 July 2024 is not applicable.[15] The limitations imposed by the date of commencement of the Act clearly brings forth a difficulty for victims to provide sufficient evidence for a coercive control charge and undermines the effectiveness of the Act in achieving its purpose of protecting those affected by coercive control.

Moreover, coercive control is not limited to occurring between intimate partners as it can affect family members and those in other carer relationships. Despite this, coercive control is only criminalised by the Act in circumstances amounting to abuse in intimate relationships, leaving others who do not fit this demographic to be left without a solution.[16] The Act holds perimeters that target only those in intimate relationships, demonstrating an area of weakness as family members of differing dynamics are not included, thereby limiting the legislation’s effectiveness

IV CONCLUSION

Due to statistics holding large domestic violence trends in Australia, NSW’s criminalisation of coercive control holds numerous benefits in protecting those who face non-physical domestic abuse that was not traditionally covered by the framework of criminal law. Government campaigns regarding the legislation enabled awareness of coercive control to be developed and in turn saw almost 300 incidents of coercive control reported in the first year of the Act’s commencement. Contrasting these benefits, flaws are present in the legislation, notably the low rate of charges, which has been suggested to result from the difficulty victim-survivors may hold in gathering sufficient evidence due to various sections of the Act. Additionally, the Act does not protect family members or those in other carer relationships from coercive control as it focusses solely on intimate partners, leaving some to be remain unprotected from this legislation. Despite these critiques, the first individual was sent to jail recently on a charge of coercive control, shining a hopeful light into the future of providing just outcomes for victim-survivors of coercive control. NSW has taken a fundamental step in becoming the first State to criminalise coercive control and this landmark decision may inspire other States to follow suit to better protect individuals facing domestic violence. It is evident that the current scope of the legislation is limited and should be expanded in future to protect a broader demographic from coercive control

V FOOTNOTES

[1] Department of Communities and Justice, NSW Government, ‘Criminalising Coercive Control in NSW’ (14 October 2025).

[2] Ibid.

[3] Crimes Legislation Amendment (Coercive Control) Act 2022 (NSW) s 54D (1) (‘CLACC Act’).

[4] Jane Wangmann, ‘Criminalising Coercive Control in New South Wales: Misunderstandings and Missed Opportunities’, (2024), 47(3), UNSW Law Journal 812, 813.

[5] Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, NSW Trends in Domestic & Family Violence – Quarterly Report, September 2025

[6] Serious Crime Act 2015 (UK) s 76; Wangmann (n 4) 813.

[7] Multicultural NSW, NSW Government, ‘Coercive Control Awareness Campaigns to Reach More People in Diverse Communities’, (4 May 2025) (‘Coercive Control Awareness Campaigns’).

[8] Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, Coercive Control Monitoring Report June 2025 (Report 2025) (‘BOCSAR Report 2025’).

[9] ‘Coercive Control Awareness Campaigns’, (n 7).

[10] NSW Domestic Violence Death Review Team, 2021–2023 Report (Report, 2024).

[11] Libby Newton, ‘Not Ready, Not Right: Key Objections to Criminalising Coercive Control in New South Wales’, (2023), 45(1), Sydney Law Review 121, 124.

[12] Amber Schultz, ‘Samantha’s Ex-Partner Isolated and Abused Her. He’s The First Man in NSW to Serve Jail Time For Coercive Control’, The Sydney Morning Herald (online, 5 February 2026) <Samantha’s ex-partner isolated and abused her. He’s the first man in NSW to serve jail time for coercive control>

[13] ‘BOCSAR Report 2025’, n 8.

[14] CLACC Act (n 3) s 2.

[15] Ibid s 54D (1) (c).

[16] Ibid s 54D (1) (b).