Minister unhappy that community knows enough about coercive control to criminalize behavior

WA’s family and domestic violence prevention minister has declared that West Australians do not have a strong enough understanding of coercive control to criminalize an insidious form of psychological warfare.

Speaking at WA’s March Against Domestic and Family Violence on Monday, Sabine Winton repeatedly ruled out fast-tracking criminalizing coercive control or offering a legislation timetable.

Ms Winton said she was not yet satisfied with the community’s knowledge of the issue.

“The legislature alone cannot stop the violence,” he said.

“Especially when we’re talking about legislation on something as important as coercive control, where the majority of people in society don’t even know what that looks like.

“Our approach is backed by experts. The Commissioner for Victims of Crime said that before we legislate or criminalise, we need to ensure society understands unacceptable behaviour.

When asked what the threshold for this sense of community would be, Ms. Winton gave a tentative answer.

It came just minutes after the daughter of Floreat double killer Mark Bombara spoke of the “constant” oppressive and controlling behavior her mother endured before the murders in May.

Ariel Bombara says his father did not physically attack his mother, but made her life hell before his monstrous act.

Ariel Bombara Credit: Ian Munro/Western Australia

Coercive control became an offense in NSW from 1 July.

A report released last week by the state Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research found that there were 76 incidents of coercive control recorded or reported to police in the first three months the law was in effect.

However, only two of these resulted in charges.

One of them was stopped by the prosecutor’s office, the other resulted in a criminal complaint and the criminal is planned to be sentenced in December.

The NSW Department of Justice said the difference between incidents and charges was often due to a lack of evidence or the willingness of victims to press charges.

Ms Winton said providing WA victims with the ability to gather sufficient evidence to increase the likelihood of a successful conviction was another key objective before coercive control was criminalized in the State.

“We are committed to doing this in phases, in partnership with experts,” he said.

“We are working hard on key reforms with our industry partners. “Some of these reforms will take some time.”

Sabine Winton Credit: michael wilson/Western Australia

Earlier this year the State Government invested $5 million to run a two-year public awareness campaign promoting an understanding of coercive control in the wider society, developed in consultation with key stakeholders and experts.

Women’s Legal Service WA chief executive Dr. Jennie Gray has backed a “phased” approach to criminalization and warned rushing through legislation could lead to “unintended consequences”.

Dr Gray said this could include misidentifying female victims of domestic violence as perpetrators.

“This change will not happen unless we have officers and judges on the front lines who are trained and experts in what coercive control means,” he said.

“Coercive control is an underlying dynamic of all domestic and family violence, but often the only person who can truly see and understand the level of coercion is the victim-survivor. It is invisible to the rest of us.”

Dr Gray welcomed the newly introduced changes to the Restraining Order Act which allow victims to exercise coercive control when applying for an order.

“That’s really great to see, but unless we have the education to drive cultural change and appropriate responses, legislation on its own may not change anything.”

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, call 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) or the Crisis Care Helpline on 1800 199 008.

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