Criminalising coercive control could allow ACT police to intervene sooner

A private members' bill to criminalise coercive control in the territory is set to be introduced to the Legislative Assembly by deputy opposition leader Leanne Castley and shadow attorney-general Peter Cain.

ACT Policing Family Violence Unit Detective Sergeant Sam Norman said there was interest in exploring the criminalisation of coercive control and it would be a "useful tool". He said there were cases where charges could have been pursued if it had been outlawed.

"We were certainly aware of cases where no criminality has been identified by police under the current legislation but criminality would have been identified if a coercive control offence had been in place," he said.

"And in those cases, there could have been opportunities for police to charge a person and change the trajectory of the victim's experience of family violence at a sooner point.

"They may never reach a point of serious violence or homicide, but they're experiencing that family violence anyway and the offence might have given us an opportunity to stop that."

The ACT has been exploring the possibility of criminalising coercive control over recent years but will not pursue the change until work is undertaken to educate the community about what it is.

This is supported by the sector, with the Domestic Violence Crisis Service ACT expressing concern at legislative changes before cultural changes had occurred. There were also concerns about how it could affect marginalised communities.

Detective Sergeant Norman said he understood the position of the Domestic Violence Crisis Service and relying on the criminal justice system alone only solved a small portion of the problem.

"It's always better if we can stop people behaving in a particular way rather than making the punishment for behaving in that way really serious for two reasons," he said.

"Only a small percentage of crimes get reported and only a small percentage of those end up with an outcome that's meaningful."

Coercive control is a pattern of controlling behaviours within a relationship. A person may repeatedly hurt, scare or isolate another in order to control them. It has been criminalised in NSW and Queensland.

The push to criminalise coercive control is supported by the Australian Federal Police Association.

"Coercive control is abhorrent and insidious; stronger legislation is needed to combat it, and we welcome the private members' bill from the Canberra Liberals," the association's president Alex Caruana said.

Under current laws, coercive control can be considered an offence in the context of a family violence order but Mr Caruana said the association believed it needed to be recognised as a standalone offence.

He said more funding and resources would be needed to investigate coercive control offences. He said experienced and specialised officers with a detailed understanding of coercive control would be needed.

"Coercive control investigations can be lengthy and difficult in nature," he said.

"Police will have to gather a series of evidence, and it's likely that they'll have to execute search warrants and obtain information from telecommunication organisations and financial institutions to demonstrate that the offence has occurred."