Shining a Light on Coercive Control

 

Following community consultation in 2023, the Western Australian Government is considering whether amendments to current law, or new law, is required to better deal with behaviour known as “coercive control”.

 

Coercive control is a type of family violence, generally described as when someone controls the life of someone close to them to scare or harm them. It could be a partner or ex-partner, another family member, someone you live with or someone who takes care of you. 

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The difficulty in identifying coercive control is that it doesn’t always manifest in physical violence, but rather in more subtle ways such as financial, emotional and psychological abuse.

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Perpetrators will use a range of tactics designed to intimidate, isolate, humiliate, punish and frighten their victims. Occurring over the length of a relationship, the victim may not even be aware of the extent of the controlling behaviour. 

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However, law reform without community education will result in little progress. Providing the tools to assist the community to recognise coercive controlling behaviour is critical to any real reform.

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Signs of coercive behaviour might include:-

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• controlling who you talk to and where you go, following you or installing tracking apps on your phone 

• going through your phone or peppering you with hurtful messages

• controlling your money or taking it away from you

• stopping you from seeing doctors or controlling your medication

 

It is a problem facing the Australian community as a whole, and not one with an easy answer.

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If you, or someone you know, is a victim of coercive control, there is help. Contact 1800 RESPECT, the police or attend at your local Magistrate Court.