Canberra Liberals leader Leanne Castley's plea for coercive control legislation is personal

For Leanne Castley, the push to criminalise coercive control in the ACT has always been personal.

Growing up, the Canberra Liberals leader watched the insidious form of abuse strip power, freedom and independence from the two women closest to her.

Warning: This story contains details of domestic violence and sexual assault.

It was her mum Lorraine Castley's second husband who wreaked havoc on her childhood home.

"Mum married him when I was in year six," Ms Castley said.

"He drank a lot and was violent. It was awful. It was such a tense home.

Ms Castley described hiding in the bathroom as she heard his car driving up the street, waiting to see what kind of mood he was in.

"If he was in a good mood, it would all be okay, but if he'd been drinking and they were having a big blue, I knew to lay low," she said.

Ms Castley said her mum endured the abuse for years; the stigma of a second failed marriage weighing heavily.

Then one night, everything changed.

"He came home and it was just on for young and old," Ms Castley recalled.

Aunt leaves abuser, still can't escape him

Ms Castley's Aunt Lou is also a survivor of unimaginable trauma.

Her third husband controlled her every move and isolated her from family and friends.

"I didn't know until years later that he would put sleeping tablets in her coffee at night and rape her."

Ms Castley said her aunt eventually left the relationship but found her husband difficult to escape.

"She would change her route and within three days, he would realise and hop on the other road — or he'd just park in her street and sit and watch her."

Devastating insight shared in Assembly

It was with her mum and aunt in mind, that Ms Castley offered the ACT Legislative Assembly a raw and rare glimpse into her childhood earlier this year, detailing the impact of intimate partner violence on her family.

"This is no way for families to exist," she told the Assembly.

On the day of her speech, the Assembly passed a motion making a commitment to legislate on coercive control — a move the politician had pushed in the last term of government.

"We've got to take action sooner rather than later," she said.

ACT police attend 11 family violence incidents daily

Coercive control is a pattern of behaviour used to entrap someone in a relationship, creating fear and denying a person of freedom and independence.

It can involve financial control, isolation from friends and family, monitoring, humiliation, constant criticism and dictating aspects of a person's life, such as where they go, what they wear or when they sleep.

It causes serious harm on its own but is also a factor in almost all intimate partner homicides.

Every day in Canberra, police are called to 11 family violence incidents, on average.

Under the current legal framework in the ACT, police do not have the power to arrest or charge a perpetrator unless there is evidence of physical violence.

Detective Acting Inspector Sam Norman is the officer in charge of ACT Policing's Domestic and Family Violence Investigation Unit.

He said criminalising coercive control would mean officers could step in before a situation escalates.

"That would be with coercive control itself as opposed to the violence that might arise from it."

Acting Assistant Commissioner Paula Hudson said the force supported the move, even if it resulted in more work for officers. 

"Absolutely, because family violence thrives in silence and the most powerful thing we can do as a community is to speak up," Acting Assistant Commissioner Hudson said.

A critical piece of the puzzle for ACT Policing is ensuring all officers are adequately trained to handle coercive control cases.

"Given the complexity of the crime type and the type of investigation that would be required and the nuance of that crime type, it's going to be really important that police are appropriately trained," Detective Acting Inspector Norman said.

'Web of abuse'

The ACT government launched a coercive control education campaign across social media, radio and in public places last month.

It included posters that state: "Coercive control is a web of abuse" as well as radio advertising highlighting the behaviours commonly associated with coercive control.

A progress report on the work being done in preparation for legislative change is due by September.

When asked how she would describe the government's progress, Frances Crimmins does not hesitate.

"I would call it a little bit frustratingly slow," the chief executive of women's advocacy organisation YWCA Canberra said.

"This is why we need to start taking action now."

'Controlled in all aspects': advocate

YWCA Canberra has a specialist domestic violence support team working with victim-survivors and coercive control is a factor in the vast majority of their cases. 

"One woman has recently described to her case manager that she is controlled in all aspects of her life," Ms Crimmins said.

"When she can use the telephone. When she can leave the house. How long she can shower. Her sleep is monitored.

"And if she doesn't meet any of these targets set for her, she's punished."

Ms Crimmins acknowledged that criminalisation of coercive control would not solve the family violence crisis but said the current approach in the ACT was clearly inadequate.

"We need the laws to help support women," she said.

"Even if it doesn't end up with an immediate prosecution, it's giving a woman confidence to come forward and that's what we're seeing in New South Wales and Queensland."

'What happens when it goes to court?'

Coercive control has been a standalone offence in New South Wales since 2024, with a similar law coming into effect in Queensland just last month.

Dr Hayley Boxall, a criminologist who has been studying family violence for more than a decade, is cautiously supportive of criminalisation but said it shouldn't be rushed.

"I think having a really close look at how New South Wales and Queensland go with this legislation and understanding some of the strengths of the wording would be really, really useful in the ACT, particularly around resourcing," she said.

"A lot of the conversations that we're having about the legislation of coercive control have been around educating lawyers, magistrates, the court professionals and the police.

"The question is, what happens when it goes to court? How will the courts be adequately resourced to consider this entirely new offence, which requires quite a lot of evidence to substantiate it?"

Dr Boxall said there was not yet enough evidence to say with confidence that criminalising coercive control would prevent intimate partner violence or homicide.

But she said there was power in legislating and that it would send a message to victim-survivors, perpetrators and the broader community.

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that coercive control has been a standalone offence in NSW since 2022. The law came into force in 2024.