Published July 18, 2026
Domestic and family violence law has historically centered on discrete physical acts. A single assault, a single threat, a single breach of a protection order. That incident-based model left a gap: it could not capture the cumulative harm inflicted by sustained patterns of psychological manipulation, financial restriction, isolation, and surveillance. Two Australian states have now enacted standalone criminal offences directed at that gap. Together, the New South Wales coercive control offence and the Queensland coercive control offence offer the most detailed case study available of what it means, in statutory terms, to criminalize a pattern of domination rather than a single act.
Why Coercive Control Legislation Matters
Research findings from multiple Australian institutions underscore the seriousness of the conduct these offences target.
The NSW Government has noted that coercive control has been strongly linked to intimate partner homicide; the NSW Domestic Violence Death Review Team found that in 97 percent of intimate partner domestic violence homicide cases, the victim had experienced coercive and controlling behaviours before being killed.
Data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reported that 2.3 million women and 1.3 million men in Australia have experienced emotional abuse, and 1.6 million women and 745,000 men have experienced financial abuse from a present or previous partner. These figures illustrate that the behaviours targeted by Australia coercive control law are neither rare nor trivial.
The New South Wales Offence
On 16 November 2022, the NSW Parliament passed the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Coercive Control) Bill 2022 (NSW), making it an offence for a person to engage in a pattern of coercive or controlling conduct. From 1 July 2024, coercive control became a criminal offence in NSW when a person uses abusive behaviours towards a current or former intimate partner with the intention to coerce or control them.
Schedule 1 to the Amendment Act amended Part 3 of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) by inserting Division 6A and establishing a standalone offence of “Abusive behaviour towards current or former intimate partners” under section 54D. The coercive control offence is punishable by up to seven years imprisonment.
The offence has four elements that the prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt. The adult must engage in a course of conduct against another person that consists of abusive behaviour; the adult and the other person must be or have been intimate partners; the adult must intend the course of conduct to coerce or control the other person; and a reasonable person must consider the course of conduct likely, in all the circumstances, to cause fear of violence or a serious adverse impact on the person’s capacity to engage in ordinary day-to-day activities.
Proving intention adds a complex layer in a courtroom. This is where a forensic expertise shapes how a court understands the case.
The mental element for the offence is set at specific intent: the prosecution must prove that the specific purpose for which the accused engaged in the abusive behaviour was to coerce or control their intimate partner. Commentators writing in the Journal of Judicial Administration have noted that the narrow construction of the NSW offence may result in fewer eligible complainants (and may be one practical measure to reduce the likelihood of victim misidentification), but it will also preclude victims who experience coercive control in non-intimate partner relationships from accessing legal remedies.
The law only applies to abusive behaviour that occurs after 1 July 2024. Early enforcement data illustrate the practical challenges of prosecuting a pattern-based offence. Despite the legislation being active since July 2024, prosecution rates remained relatively low; NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics data showed that in the first 12 months, approximately 300 incidents were reported to police, but only nine charges were laid.
The first custodial sentence under New South Wales coercive control law was imposed in early February 2026. In Police v Fairleigh, the court handed down the first conviction under NSW’s new coercive control laws. Callum Fairleigh was convicted and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 15 months. Although there was a long history of concerning conduct, the court could only consider behaviour occurring after July 2024, when the new offence became law.
The Queensland Offence
Queensland’s path to criminalization began with the Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce, chaired by the Honourable Margaret McMurdo AC, which was established in March 2021 to examine coercive control and review both the need for a specific offence of “domestic violence” and the experience of women across the criminal justice system. On 2 December 2021, the Taskforce released “Hear her voice, Report One, Addressing coercive control and domestic and family violence in Queensland.” Among its 89 recommendations was the introduction of a new criminal offence specifically targeting coercive control.
The tragic case of Hannah Clarke and her three children, who were murdered by her estranged husband in 2020, served as a pivotal catalyst for these legislative reforms. The resulting legislation is sometimes referred to as “Hannah’s Law.”
From 26 May 2025, coercive control is a criminal offence in Queensland. The offence commenced on 26 May 2025 and sits under section 344C of the Criminal Code 1899. The criminal offence carries a maximum penalty of 14 years imprisonment due to the serious nature of the offence and the harm coercive control can cause victim-survivors.
The Queensland offence differs from the NSW model in two important respects. First, scope of relationships: it is illegal for an adult to use abusive behaviours towards their current or former intimate partner, family member, or informal (unpaid) carer with the intention to control or coerce them. By contrast, NSW’s section 54D applies only to current or former intimate partners. Second, the maximum penalty of 14 years in Queensland is double the seven-year maximum in NSW. Queensland’s coercive control laws are among the strongest in Australia; the maximum penalty of 14 years’ imprisonment exceeds the seven-year penalty introduced in New South Wales in 2024.
Queensland also introduced a new offence to stop people from using domestic and family violence, including coercive control, on behalf of a respondent; under this new law, it is illegal for anyone (including friends or family) to intimidate or abuse a victim-survivor named in a Domestic Violence Order on behalf of the person using violence.
In early August 2025, a Cairns man became the first person convicted under Queensland’s newly introduced coercive control laws, receiving a sentence of two years of imprisonment following what the court described as a pattern of abuse.
Structural Tensions in Criminalizing a Pattern
Both offences raise durable questions about how criminal law accommodates ongoing behaviour rather than discrete incidents. The requirement that a prosecution prove a “course of conduct” rather than a single act inverts typical evidentiary expectations. As noted in the Second Reading Speech for the NSW Bill, there is no minimum number of incidents required to establish a course of conduct. If a specific incident of abusive behaviour is alleged to form part of the course of conduct, the prosecution is not required to allege the particulars that would be necessary were the incident charged as a separate offence, but must allege the nature and description of the behaviours and the period of time over which the course of conduct took place.
The intent element also generates complexity. A defence to the offence of coercive control in New South Wales is outlined in section 54E: the accused is not guilty if the course of conduct was reasonable in all the circumstances, though the practical application of this defence is yet to be interpreted and applied through case law.
Concerns about misidentification remain. The NSW Coercive Control Implementation and Oversight Taskforce reported in its July 2025 statutory report that no First Nations people had been charged with the offence to date, including First Nations women, and that the impact of the offence on First Nations communities would remain a key monitoring focus.
Further Reading
Readers seeking additional information may consult the NSW Government’s coercive control page, the Queensland Government’s coercive control laws page, or the Judicial Commission of NSW Bench Book entry on section 54D. Individuals in Australia who are experiencing domestic or family violence can contact 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) for 24-hour support.
This article is educational content produced by Carlton Research. It does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional legal counsel in any jurisdiction.
Sources
- NSW Government, “Coercive control and the law,” updated May 2025
- Queensland Government, “Coercive control laws,” updated 2025
- Judicial Commission of NSW, Bench Book: Abusive behaviour towards intimate partners
- NSW Department of Communities and Justice, Crimes Legislation Amendment (Coercive Control) Act 2022 Statutory Report, July 2025
- Queensland Department of Families, “Queensland Government response to Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce recommendations”
- KHQ Lawyers, “First criminal conviction under coercive control laws,” February 2026 (reporting on Police v Fairleigh)
- Tandfonline, “The new coercive control offence in NSW: (how) will it work?” Journal of Judicial Administration, 2024
Disclaimer
Coercive control law moves fast. Jurisdictions are actively criminalizing it, amending definitions, and changing the scope of litigation. This article is current as of its date of publication and may not reflect subsequent changes. It is provided for general educational purposes and is not legal advice.