Prevention of DV Minister Sabine Winton says coercive control criminalisation won’t happen before election

Criminalising coercive control won’t occur until after the next election, Prevention of Domestic Violence Minister Sabine Winton has revealed — saying the work needed to implement the specific offence would take longer than the months left until WA voters go to the polls. The admission came as Ms Winton and Attorney General John Quigley spoke to the media on Tuesday about sweeping legislation to improve the court process for victims of domestic violence. Ms Winton said the Cook Government was committed to a “staged approach” to criminalising coercive control — an insidious form of domestic violence that includes controlling a victim’s movements, independence and finances. The first stage — before outright criminalisation — includes allowing victims to cite coercion when obtaining restraining orders, training police and others in the justice system and an education campaign. The minister said the staged approach was necessary to “make sure that when we do implement it, we get it right”. “In the budget, we are committed to criminalising coercive control, and we’ve provided money for the Department of Justice to do that important (education and training) work,” Ms Winton said. “We’re not going to be rushed on it. We will take our advice from the experts, whether it’s the (Victims of Crime) Commissioner or whether it’s our sector partners because we want to make sure that the laws that we enact put victim-survivors first.” Ms Winton said training and educating the workforce tasked with implementing criminalisation would “take longer than March,” when the next State election is scheduled. Coercive control has been criminalised in New South Wales and Queensland. Victims of Crime Commissioner Kati Kraszlan said the Queensland legislation took three years to develop and WA was into its first year. Liberal leader Libby Mettam said WA was “the most dangerous State in the country to be a woman” and the Government had been dragged “kicking and screaming” on introducing legislation to address the scourge of domestic violence. “Family and domestic violence rates are up 44 per cent (compared to the five-year average),” she said. “It is extraordinary that they are failing to introduce the coercive control legislation that has been introduced in other states.” Reforms announced Tuesday to WA’s Evidence Act — which are currently being considered in the upper house — include allowing domestic violence victims to give evidence straight to police body cameras or phones, meaning their evidence will be fresh and it will be less likely the victim will have to be re-traumatised by giving evidence in court. The upcoming law will also stop judges from warning juries to be sceptical about evidence from a victim who took a long time to come forward. Mr Quigley began drafting the changes four years ago and said he hoped to get all “450 clauses spread of 350 pages” done by the end of the year — ahead of an election in March. “It’s a very complex piece of legislation, and has had to go through detailed consultation with all elements of the legal profession,” the Attorney, who is retiring from politics at the upcoming poll, said. “I’m sprinting to the finish line.” Ms Mettam said the Liberal party had not seen the details of the reforms but would support legislation that helped to safeguard women. The outgoing Attorney’s agenda also includes outlawing Nazi salutes, scrapping the gender reassignment board, mandating GPS tracking devices for abusers on domestic violence restraining orders and privacy reforms to the way Government handles individuals’ information.