In September 2022, the Standing Council of Attorneys-General released a Consultation Draft of the National Principles to Address Coercive Control. The draft was developed amid growing desire within Australia for improved responses to coercive control, and sets out eight National Principles that cover:
- A common understanding of coercive control and its impacts
- The effects of discrimination and inequality
- Systems reform issues
- Criminalisation
Good Shepherd’s response to the National Principles is based on decades of practice experience working alongside women and children who have experienced coercive control in their lives. Our response:
- Welcomes a nationally consistent definition, and the inclusion of financial abuse within this
- Encourages an intersectional lens be applied to understand how coercive control manifests in different communities
- Recognises the long-term impacts of coercive control, and a need for greater funding of recovery efforts
- Highlights the role of government in mediating systems abuse, ensuring nationally consistent best practice, and reducing service and sector fragmentation
- Cautions against the introduction of a separate criminal offence for coercive control
