The Victorian Liberals and Nationals will introduce a Private Members Bill to State Parliament next week to establish a new offence of coercive control under the Crimes Amendment (Coercive Control) Bill 2025.
The scheme will be based on NSW laws and will finally give victims legal protection from harmful behaviours beyond physical violence, including sustained patterns of intimidation, isolation, humiliation, manipulation, and control.
If the Allan Labor Government refuses to back the new law, a future Wilson Liberal and Nationals Government will introduce the legislation within the first 100 days of forming government.
Family violence in Victoria continues to rise despite Labor's claims that all recommendations from the Royal Commission into Family Violence have been implemented.
The Crime Statistics Agency's latest crime data for the year ending June 2025 reveals:
- Serious assault incidents within family violence increased 23.35 per cent between June 2024 and June 2025.
- Breaches of family violence orders rose 16.68 per cent between June 2024 and June 2025.
- Reports of stalking and threatening behaviour against women increased from 4,878 in 2024 to 5,422 in 2025.
- Last year also marked the first time family violence callouts exceeded 100,000.
These figures still fail to capture coercive control, which is often the foundation of domestic abuse. Victims can be trapped for years, left isolated, afraid and dependent on their abuser.
Other states are moving ahead. Tasmania already criminalises economic and emotional abuse, New South Wales and Queensland have enacted dedicated coercive control laws whilst Western Australia and South Australia have drafted legislation and are delivering training programs.
Leader of the Opposition, Jess Wilson, said: "When nearly 100 per cent of all intimate partner murders are preceded by coercive control, it could not be clearer that action needs to be taken to stop this sinister behaviour.
"Not only will this legislation help to protect women and girls, it will also help victims identify patterns of behaviour and abuse. Too often we hear of women feeling isolated, knowing something is wrong but not being able to name it. Our plan will give that abusive behaviour a name and definition for what they are experiencing.
"Victoria must finally call coercive control what it is - a crime - and under a Government I lead, that's exactly what will happen."
Shadow Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence, Cindy McLeish, said: "Coercive control is an insidious form of abuse. It is persistent, terrifying and overwhelmingly directed at women. Yet despite its devastating impact on victims, coercive control is still not recognised as a stand-alone offence in Victoria.
"Whenever I talk to people about family violence, coercive control is almost always an underlying issue. It is power-based manipulation that needs to be called out, and this legislation will do just that.
"The more people who are charged and prosecuted, the stronger the message, and the stronger the driver is for cultural change."
Key points:
- The proposed Crimes Amendment (Coercive Control) Bill 2025 will create a standalone offence, based on the NSW model, with a maximum penalty of seven years' imprisonment for a "course of conduct" including emotional, psychological, financial and physical abuse, threats, isolation and surveillance.
- The Coalition's plan will "catch Victoria up" to NSW and Queensland, which already have standalone coercive control offences.
- The announcement builds on the Coalition's "Right to Ask, Right to Know" domestic violence disclosure scheme, which would let people request information about a partner's violent history and allow police to disclose where there is serious risk, but which Labor voted against in the Parliament on 27 November 2024.
