The APS is calling for more support for victims of coercive control
The media is increasingly reporting acts of extreme family and domestic violence throughout Australia. In almost all cases of intimate partner homicide, coercive control has been part of the dynamic of the relationship.
APS CEO Dr Zena Burgess recently took part in the 6th Annual Emotional and Social Wellbeing Forum in Perth discussing this pressing issue facing our nation, and its ongoing impact on mental health, especially in regional and rural communities. This event offered a chance for the APS to advocate for the role of psychology and our members, and the valuable role they play supporting Australians.
What is coercive control?
Coercive control is an insidious pattern of behaviours which may be difficult to recognise outside the controlling relationship.
Although coercive control is not exclusively gender-based abuse, in most cases the perpetrator is a male exercising coercive control over a female victim. Many scholars believe that gender inequality is fundamental to the dynamic that allows this type of devastating abuse to occur.
Cumulatively, the behaviours may result in the perpetrator isolating the victim from friends and family, controlling their finances, subjugating the victim, forcing them to perform certain tasks, and degrading the victim’s self-confidence in ways that prevent them from seeking help. This type of abuse is often not physical and may be exercised using digital technologies such as mobile phone tracking or hidden cameras. Control to intimidate is also common in the treatment of prisoners of war.
If victimsm do seek help and/or attempt to leave the relationship, they are often at great risk of violent consequences, as the perpetrator may retaliate to punish the victim. Even if this is not the case, victims may be left with no financial resources and effectively homeless.
A pressing issue for rural and remote communities
Rural and remote victims of coercive control are particularly vulnerable. Geographic separation may already limit the amount of social support and contact with others outside the relationship. Furthermore, seeking help may be complicated in rural and remote communities where the perpetrator is well known and respected. This issue is exacerbated when victims are from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and may not be well known and/or the perpetrator purposefully destroys the victim’s reputation in the community.
Now is the time for more action
The APS would like more action to reduce the incidence of this damaging type of abuse and ensure women in rural and remote areas maintain the right to be in safe, respectful relationships. Through our advocacy work we have been highlighting the need for the following measures:
- Increase awareness of coercive control in our communities and provide more training for health practitioners and community members to be able to identify and support victims.
- Provide more evidence-based interventions to prevent disrespectful behaviour towards women.
- Improve internet connectivity and digital literacy to enable those who seek help to get it.
- Provide sufficient translators and language resources to build community awareness in culturally and linguistically diverse groups.
- Enable victims of coercive control to see a psychologist without a mental health diagnosis via a dedicated MBS domestic violence item number.
We recommend the principles of the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children for further information.
The APS has put forward submissions to NSW, South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland governments regarding the criminalisation of coercive control.
We also responded to the National Principles to Address Coercive Control.
Last year, the NSW Parliament passed the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Coercive Control) Act 2022, which makes coercive control between current and former intimate partners a criminal offence. In doing so, NSW has become the first Australian state or territory to create a stand-alone offence for coercive control.
In 2021, InPsych highlighted the issue in a cover feature on psychology's role in the criminalisation of coercive control.
Quick facts – Violence against women in Australia
In Australia, on average:
- one woman a week is murdered by her current or former partner
- 1 in 3 women has experienced physical violence since the age of 15
- 1 in 4 women (23%) has experienced emotional abuse by a current or former partner since the age of 15
- 1 in 5 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women aged 15 and over has experienced physical violence in a 12-month period
- more than one-third of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women who have experienced physical violence in the year preceding 2014-15 identified an intimate partner as the perpetrator of their most recent experience of physical violence.
Based on 2015 analysis, violence against women in Australia is costing Australia $21.7 billion each year.
(Source: Our Watch)
Quick facts – Violence in Aboriginal communities
- Three in five Aboriginal women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by a cohabitating or non-cohabitating partner
- Aboriginal women are 32 times more likely than non-Aboriginal women to be hospitalised from family violence.
The legacy of dispossession, the Stolen Generations and the impact of policies from successive governments has contributed to the significant disadvantage and trauma experienced by Aboriginal people, their families and communities.
(Source: WA Government)