Arabic version: قانون السيطرة القسرية في نيو ساوث ويلز يواجه تدقيقاً مبكراً

According to ABC News, NSW’s coercive control law has produced its first jail sentences but remains under scrutiny two years after taking effect. In January, Callum Fairleigh became the first person sentenced to imprisonment under the law, receiving two years for abuse of his former partner, Samantha Bouffler. Bouffler said the psychological control was the most damaging aspect of the abuse.

NSW became the first Australian jurisdiction to criminalise coercive control in November 2022, with the offence applying from July 1, 2024. The law targets a pattern of abusive behaviour by a current or former partner intended to coerce or control. New Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research data showed police recorded 682 coercive-control reports in the first 24 months, with women accounting for 95 per cent of victims.

By June 2026, police had laid 42 charges, all against men. Four defendants who pleaded guilty had been sentenced: two received prison terms of two years and two years and three months, while the others received an 18-month intensive correction order and a two-year community correction order. Angie Gehle of DVNSW said the number of charges had not met community expectations and that the offence did not necessarily reflect victim-survivors’ experiences.

Professor Jane Wangmann of the University of Technology Sydney pointed to the gap between coercive-control reports and more than 77,000 domestic violence assaults recorded during the same period. She said the offence’s requirement to prove an accused intended to coerce or control creates a high bar, and argued it should eventually include recklessness. NSW Police said the law applies only to conduct from July 2024 and that investigations are complex and can take significant time.