Mark Speakman says proposed coercive control bill could ‘criminalise parenting’

Laws designed to criminalise dominating behaviour in relationships could make parental discipline illegal, Attorney-General Mark Speakman has warned.

Legislation designed to criminalise controlling and dominating behaviour in relationships will not be supported by the state government, with Attorney-General Mark Speakman warning the bill’s unintended consequences included making acceptable “parental discipline” illegal.

However Mr Speakman has left the door open to introducing government legislation to criminalise “coercive control” pending recommendations from a parliamentary inquiry into the issue.

Parental discipline of teens generally viewed as acceptable could become illegal under the proposed bill.

Labor MP Anna Watson last year introduced a bill to criminalise certain coercive and controlling behaviour in a bid to crack down on people who inflict psychological harm on their partners.

A NSW Coroners Court review has found that 99 per cent of domestic homicides were preceded by some form of coercive control.

However, under Labor’s legislation, a parent could commit an offence by forcing a child to stay at home or regulating their day-to-day activities.

The bill would make it an offence for a person to exert “coercive control” over someone with whom they are in a “domestic relationship”.

NSW Election 2019 Shellharbour Labor MP Anna Watson.

Attorney-General Mark Speakman.

Such behaviour includes “controlling, regulating or monitoring the other person’s day-to-day activities” or “isolating the other person from friends, relatives or other sources of support”.

The Attorney-General said that while the bill may be “well-intentioned”, it had serious flaws. “It would criminalise parental discipline of children that most people would regard as acceptable,” he said.

Mr Speakman said the government would consider findings from a cross-party parliamentary committee investigating the issue of “whether we want to criminalise coercive control, and if we do, what is the best way to do it”.

One Nation leader Mark Latham has previously raised concerns with criminalising controlling or dominating behaviour.

In a submission to the parliamentary inquiry, first reported by The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday, Mr Latham says that the legislation threatens to “criminalise many aspects of regular, responsible behaviour in the family home”.