Australia’s attorneys-general have agreed to create a national plan to tackle coercive control as the government steps up action to reduce domestic and family violence.
Coercive control refers to “the pattern of abusive behavior designed to create power and dominance over another person or persons.”
This can look like controlling what someone wears, who sees or their access to money, tracking their location and can often lead to physical violence.
Attorney General Mark Dreyfus met with his state and territory counterparts to discuss enforcement. (Rhett Wyman)
State and territory attorneys-general met with their federal counterpart Mark Dreyfus on Friday to create a “national understanding” of coercive control that could eventually trickle down into laws and legislation criminalizing the behaviour.
It comes after major demands for legislative reform for coercive monitoring laws, particularly following the murder of Brisbane woman Hannah Clarke and her children by Clarke’s estranged husband.
Clarke’s parents, Sue and Lloyd, told Today that the national plan is a step in the right direction and is “a no-brainer”.
“We’ve been hoping for a long time for this to go national. For them to really sit and collaborate together and for all the states to come on board,” Clarke said.
Ms Clarke added: “I’m glad to see the conversation is happening and people are talking about it. I’m surprised people aren’t aware of what the flags are in a coercive relationship, I think we need a lot of education . . .
Hannah Clarke’s parents, Sue and Lloyd, talk about the reform of coercive control. (9News) Hannah Clarke and her three children were killed by her estranged husband. (9 News)
The Solicitors General meeting resulted in the adoption of a consultation draft of National Principles for Addressing Coercive Control, the first of its kind in Australia.
“We have agreed a set of measures that will help keep women and children safer in Australia,” Dreyfus said.
“We believe it will help establish a set of national principles to help people better recognize behavior when it occurs.
“The important thing is for people to understand when to recognize coercive control, even in relationships where physical violence does not occur, there can be a pattern of abusive behavior designed to dominate and control and ultimately it can be very damaging “.
The draft includes eight principles and will identify a national approach to:
- What is coercive control and its impacts
- The importance of coordinated approaches when responding to law enforcement incidents and educating the community
- “Concerns” about the misidentification of victim-survivors as perpetrators of family and domestic violence, particularly for First Nations women
“They deal with different aspects of this problem, they deal with how to identify coercive control, how to listen to victim-survivors and what steps should be taken to reduce the incidence of this problem,” Dreyfus said.
The national principles will be adopted in 2023.
The group also agreed to review the definition of consent and work to update legislation in relation to stealth, which is when one person removes a condom without the other person’s consent.