Data on the first year of New South Wales (NSW) landmark coercive control legislation, which came into force on 1 July 2024. The legislation criminalises patterns of abusive behaviour in intimate partner relationships, marking a significant shift in how domestic abuse is recognised and addressed in NSW. 

Key findings

• On average, each coercive control incident involved four distinct controlling behaviours. The most common was harassment, monitoring or tracking, present in 59% of incidents.
• Regional NSW recorded a higher rate of coercive control incidents (5.9 per 100,000) compared to Greater Sydney (2.3 per 100,000).
• Women accounted for 94% of all victims, with 92% of incidents involving a female victim and a male alleged offender.
• Nearly half the victims (47%) had a prior history of domestic violence recorded by police, and 31% had previously experienced domestic violence involving the same alleged offender.
• Despite nearly 300 recorded incidents in the first year, only nine coercive control charges have been laid by NSW Police to date.