Domestic Violence (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2024

Public bill · Private Member · Introduced

The bill would widen the domestic violence offence of coercive control by expanding who counts as a “relevant person” in section 39 of the Domestic Violence Act 2018. As shown in the text on page 5, that wider definition would include current or former spouses or civil partners, people engaged to marry, people in intimate relationships, and close family members such as parents, children, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins, as well as people who can make an application about a child. It also adds a defence where, except for certain conduct, the accused can show they honestly believed they were acting in the other person’s best interests and that the behaviour was reasonable in the circumstances. In plain terms, it aims to make the coercive control law cover more family and relationship situations, while still allowing a narrow justification in some cases.

Formal long title

Bill entitled an Act to amend the Domestic Violence Act 2018 in relation to the offence of coercive control by extending the meaning assigned in section 39 of that Act to the term “relevant person” and to provide for related matters.

Last updated 5 March 2025