Today, the Queensland Government introduced the Criminal Law (Coercive Control and Affirmative Consent) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023 (Qld). The Bill aims to implement the reforms recommended by the Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce in its Hear her voice – Report One – Addressing coercive control and domestic and family violence in Queensland. If passed, the Bill will, among other things, introduce a criminal offence of coercive control to the Criminal Code Act 1899 (Qld) which would carry a maximum penalty of 14 years imprisonment. The offence will criminalise the conduct of an adult whereby:
- They are in an intimate personal relationship, family relationship or informal care relationship with another person;
- They engage in conduct against the other person that consists of domestic violence occurring on more than one occasion;
- They intend the course of conduct to coerce or control the other person; and
- The course of conduct would be reasonably likely to cause the other person harm.
The introduction of the Queensland Bill follows last month’s release of the National Principles to Address Coercive Control in Family and Domestic Violence, by the Standing Council of Attorneys-General, accompanied by a suite of easy-to-read factsheets summarising the Principles.
We are delighted that both the Bill and the final National Principles recognise coercive control in both intimate partner and broader family relationships so as not to exclude the abuse of older people and children as victims of coercive control in their own right.
For more information on coercive control reforms across Australia, you can refer to our coercive control reform tracker, updated to include the National Principles. For more information on elder abuse and coercive control reform refer to our Elder abuse and coercive control in Australia report.