The Legal Services Commission (LSC) is to roll out new support and education programs across the State to help people break free of abusive relationships.
Announced by Attorney-General and Minister for Planning and Local Government, Josh Teague, the LSC is expected to launch with a community awareness campaign focusing on people experiencing coercive control.
“Coercive control is an especially insidious form of abuse where a perpetrator seeks to take control over aspects of their victim’s life – such as controlling their finances, or trying to isolate them from friends or family,” Mr Teague said.
“It can often fly under the radar because it is not always overt and does not always involve violence,” he said.
“These new programs will help those experiencing coercive control and will raise community awareness contributing to reducing the incidence of such abuse.”
Mr Teague said the LSC had received funding over two years to launch a community awareness campaign, help link clients who may be experiencing this abuse to health and welfare supports, and dedicate additional resources to applications for intervention orders.
Director of the LSC, Gabrielle Canny said coercive control was “insidious and escalating”.
“For almost 30 years we’ve provided specialist legal help to domestic violence victims and, in recent years, we’ve seen a significant rise in cases involving coercive control,” Ms Canny said.
“Perpetrators often use technology to assert that control, but free legal assistance is available to help stop this abuse and empower women to break free from this controlling and destructive behaviour,” she said.
Chief Executive Officer of the Women’s Safety Service SA, Maria Hagias said the Service had also secured funding to help identify clients who may be victims of coercive control and provide information and assistance, including referrals to other support services, through the Statewide 24/7 Domestic Violence Crisis Line.
