One in three migrant women in Australia have experienced domestic violence sbs.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sbs.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Content warning: This article contains descriptions of coercive control and domestic violence
Coercive control is a deliberate pattern of abuse that can isolate a partner from their friends and family, restrict their movement, and see them being monitored.
It can include emotional and psychological manipulation along with social, financial and technology-facilitated abuse.
But while those working to prevent domestic violence in Australia agree coercive control needs to be urgently addressed, there is no consensus regarding how best to tackle it.
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Some of those working to support survivors of domestic violence worry about the unintended consequences that criminalising behaviour may have for women - particularly those from marginalised communities.
Advocates say criminalising coercive control could have unintended consequences for Aboriginal women sbs.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sbs.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
This article contains references to domestic violence.
Religious values can be misused to justify abuse, an advisor for Anglicare Sydney has told a state parliamentary inquiry into coercive control.
Ms Lynda Dunstan, Family and Domestic Violence Advisor of Anglicare Sydney, appeared at the third day of the NSW Parliament s Committee on Wednesday as part of an inquiry into whether coercive control should be made a criminal offence.
Ms Dunstan said Anglicare, a not-for-profit organisation of the Anglican Church, supports criminalisation as a way of recognising this insidious pattern of behaviours and the devastating impact it has on its victims .
She noted the specific challenges and impacts for predominantly women from different religious and cultural backgrounds.
The definition of coercive control is crucial, domestic violence groups tell inquiry sbs.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sbs.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.