State Government launches $5M family, domestic violence campaign

The State Government has today launched a new campaign warning of the dangers of coercive control.

Running over two years, the $5 million campaign aims to help victim-survivors, perpetrators and the general public recognise the signs of coercive control and its impacts.  

Developed with insights from victim-survivors, stakeholders, advocates and informed by discussions of the Family and Domestic Violence Taskforce, the campaign sends the message that family and domestic violence is more than just physical violence.

Coercive control is defined as a pattern of behaviours deployed by a perpetrator to cause harm and maintain control over another person.

These actions can be subtle, manipulative, individually targeted and tailored to the victim-survivor over a period of time. 

The campaign’s tagline, “It doesn’t have to be physical. Coercive control is family and domestic violence”, highlights how behaviours such as monitoring, isolating, intimidation and gaslighting can result in loss of autonomy and create a sense of fear for victim-survivors. 

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, about 23 per cent of women and 16 per cent of men have experienced emotional abuse by a partner at some point since the age of 15. 

“This new family and domestic violence campaign is a crucial step towards educating the community on what coercive control is and how damaging and harmful the behaviours are," Premier Roger Cook said.

“It’s vital we send a message to the wider community that coercive control is family and domestic violence. Quite simply, it’s unacceptable. 

“We have already legislated to make it easier for victim-survivors of coercive control to obtain a restraining order, by including a reference to the patterned nature of coercive control behaviours in the existing definition of ‘family violence’ in the Restraining Orders Act." 

To support the campaign, the WA Government has also developed an online information hub for people to learn about coercive control, including how to identify behaviours, how to have a conversation with someone experiencing it, and how to seek support.