Proposed legislation to criminalise coercive control in SA

The State Government is committed to criminalising coercive control to prevent and end this insidious form of violence.

• To better understand coercive control, visit the See the Signs campaign website
• Easy Read paper explaining coercive control and the law (PDF 2.2 MB)

Creating new legislation to criminalise coercive control in SA

The Department of Human Services, through the Office for Women, consulted with the community in 2022 and 2023 to help shape coercive control laws. Guided by discussion papers, these sessions gathered feedback on the proposed legislation and implementation.

Key insights are summarised in the papers below.

In September 2023, in collaboration with the Attorney General's Department, we held information sessions on the draft Bill, the Criminal Law Consolidation (Coercive Control) Amendment Bill 2023. 

• Presentation for the Criminal Law Consolidation (Coercive Control)  Amendment (Community) (PDF 2.3 MB)

Discussion papers

• Discussion paper - Aboriginal women and communities (PDF 374.9 KB)
• Discussion paper - Multicultural women and communities  (PDF 364.0 KB)
• Discussion paper - Women with lived experience (PDF 323.9 KB)
• Discussion paper - Young people (PDF 334.3 KB)
• Discussion paper - LGBTIQA+ community (PDF 354.5 KB)

Summary papers

• Summary paper - Aboriginal women and communities (PDF 240.2 KB)
• Summary paper - Multicultural women and communities (PDF 224.2 KB)
• Summary paper - Women with lived experience (PDF 229.6 KB)
• Summary paper -  Young people (PDF 223.8 KB)
• Summary paper -  LGBTIQA+ community (PDF 233.4 KB)

Attorney-General's Department consultation of 2022

The Attorney-General's Department released a discussion paper in February 2022 to get public feedback on how to support a new coercive control offence in South Australia. It covered topics such as awareness, training, support for victim-survivors, and how to deal with perpetrators.

Consultation closed in April 2022. A summary of the feedback is available.

• Discussion paper - Implementation considerations should coercive control be criminalised in South Australia (PDF, 1.1 MB)
• Discussion paper - Implementation of coercive control offences in South Australia - submissions (PDF, 372.2 KB)
• Coercive control legislation overview on the Attorney-General Department website