Forum: Responses to Coercive Control in the WA Context

In the context of family and domestic violence, coercive control is a pattern of abusive behaviours and tactics used by a perpetrator of family and domestic violence to gain power and control over a victim-survivor. It has gained more attention within legal and political discourses since the publishing of Evan Stark’s book on men’s violence against women, where Stark described coercive control as “tactics [used] to intimidate, isolate, humiliate, exploit, regulate, and micromanage women’s enactment of everyday life”. These ‘tactics’ instil fear in a victim-survivor, erode their sense of identity and autonomy and ‘entrap’ them in a violent relationship by ‘closing down’ all options for accessing safety and support.
Coercive control is inherent to all forms of family and domestic violence and thus is a defining feature of it. It can be used as a tactic of family and domestic violence and can also be the outcome of it.
In Legislative responses to coercive control in Western Australia - a consultation outcomes report, the Commissioner for Victims of Crime Office makes 24 recommendations to Government for systemic and legal changes. Key recommendations include amending legislation to enable more effective recognition and response to a pattern of coercive and controlling behaviours.
While WA law recognises coercive control to some extent, the legislation is not able to respond adequately to behaviour that represents a pattern rather than a one-off incident. The report recommends that systemic reform precede criminalising coercive control through the creation of a stand-alone offence.
At this Forum, the Commissioner for Victims of Crime, Kati Krazlan, will discuss the report’s recommendations and next steps for Western Australia. We will also be discussing with guest presenters the perspective of Aboriginal communities in WA, the national context, and the National Principles to Address Coercive Control in Family and Domestic Violence.