On Monday 29th October, Embolden facilitated a community forum to discuss coercive control and unpack some of the issues around the law and legislation with regards to this issue. Given the recent release of our Position Paper on Coercive Control and the Law in South Australia and the introduction of a draft Bill to criminalise aspects of controlling and coercive behaviour by Attorney-General Vickie Chapman, among other recent developments in this space, this was a timely discussion with over 70 people registering for the online lunchtime event.
The panel included Dr Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Director of the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre, as well as Jody Knighton from Women’s Legal Services SA, Cinzia Aglieco from Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement / Help a Sista Out, and Voices for Change advocate, Kellie.
Each member of the panel discussed different areas of consideration on this complicated and nuanced issue, including how legislation about coercive control is being approached in other states and countries and the challenges around how legislation will be enforced.
Particularly of note, Voices for Change advocate Kellie called for the continued integration of people with lived experience in the consultation process for policy and legislative development around coercive control, and highlighted the importance of embedding those with lived experience in the development of laws around domestic and family violence.