Is Coercive Control a Crime in Victoria? A 2026 Legal Update
No. As at August 2026, coercive control is not a separate criminal offence in Victoria. That’s the short answer, and a lot of the coverage you’ll find online gets it wrong. Because New South Wales and Queensland have both criminalised it, plenty of Victorians assume the same rule applies here. It doesn’t. But the coercive control laws in Victoria still give you real protection, and most people we speak to have no idea it’s available. At Unified Lawyers we act for clients across Victoria whose safety depends on knowing which door to use.
So what’s the actual position in Victoria?
Victoria has no offence you can point to and say “that’s coercive control”. Someone can isolate you from your family, control your money, track your phone and dictate what you wear, and there is no single charge for it.
That sounds worse than it is. Victoria took a different route, and it took it earlier than anyone else.
Section 5 of the Family Violence Protection Act 2008 (Vic) says family violence includes behaviour that is coercive or controlling. It also covers behaviour that makes a family member fear for their safety. The Act names economic abuse and emotional abuse as examples. That wording has been in Victorian law since 2008, long before the word “coercive” hit the news.
So the behaviour is recognised. It just sits in the civil protection system rather than the criminal one.
What people often misunderstand: clients tell us there’s “no law against it” in Victoria, and stop there. What they mean is there’s no criminal charge. There is absolutely a legal route, and it’s usually faster than a criminal one would be.
What a Family Violence Intervention Order actually does
A Family Violence Intervention Order, or FVIO, is a court order made by the Magistrates’ Court to protect you from a family member. Police can apply on your behalf, or you can apply yourself.
The court doesn’t need proof beyond reasonable doubt. It decides on the balance of probabilities whether family violence has happened and is likely to go on. Section 5 already covers controlling behaviour. So coercive control sits squarely within what an FVIO can deal with.
An order can stop someone contacting you. It can keep them away from your home or work. It can stop them tracking you or damaging your things. It can even remove them from a home you share, when the house is in their name.
Here’s the part that changes the picture. Breaching an FVIO is a criminal offence, carrying up to two years in prison. So while the controlling behaviour itself isn’t a crime in Victoria, an order can make continuing it one.
A mistake we see clients make: treating an FVIO as a last resort, after months of trying to manage things. It isn’t. It’s the main tool Victorian law gives you, and applying earlier gives the court a cleaner picture of the pattern.
Where the coercive control Bill got stuck
The Crimes Amendment (Coercive Control) Bill 2025 would create a standalone offence in Victoria. It hasn’t passed, and the detail of why matters if you’re trying to work out whether the law is about to change.
The Bill was introduced by Ms Georgie Crozier in the Legislative Council. It passed its first reading on 2 December 2025, and the second reading was moved the following day. That’s where it has sat since.
Two things make it slower going than the headlines suggest. First, it’s a private member’s Bill from the opposition, not a government Bill. So it doesn’t get the same priority. Second, it has drawn real criticism. Some members argue that copying another state’s offence is a blunt tool for a problem Victoria already handles through its family violence system.
The Bill proposes an offence based on the New South Wales model, with a maximum penalty of seven years.
What we’d tell you if you asked whether to wait: don’t. Even if it passed tomorrow, a new offence would not be backdated. Both New South Wales and Queensland drew a hard line at their start dates. Conduct before those dates couldn’t be charged. Waiting for a law that may never arrive just costs you the cover you already have.
How Victoria compares to New South Wales and Queensland
| Standalone offence? | Since | Maximum penalty | Who it covers | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Victoria | No | — | — | Coercive control captured in the family violence definition; FVIOs available |
| New South Wales | Yes — s 54D Crimes Act 1900 | 1 July 2024 | 7 years | Current and former intimate partners only |
| Queensland | Yes — s 334C Criminal Code 1899 | 26 May 2025 | 14 years | Intimate partners, family members, unpaid carers |
If you’ve moved between states, or your former partner has, this table matters more than it looks. The criminal law that applies is the law where the conduct happened, not where you live now.
A scenario that comes up more than you’d expect: a couple separates in Queensland, one parent relocates to Melbourne, and the controlling behaviour continues by phone and email. Which state’s criminal law applies is a genuinely difficult question. The family law position is much simpler, because the Family Law Act is Commonwealth law and applies the same way across the country.
What family law does, regardless of the criminal position
This is the part that gets missed in most coverage, because it’s usually written from a criminal law angle.
Family law has known about coercive and controlling behaviour for years, and it applies right across the country. Section 4AB of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) says family violence includes behaviour that coerces or controls a family member. Or that makes them fearful. It names economic abuse, emotional abuse, and unfair limits on someone’s freedom.
Since 6 May 2024, a court working out a child’s best interests looks first at safety. That means the safety of the child and of the people caring for them. Since 10 June 2025, family violence also counts in property settlement, where it has hit someone’s contributions or their future needs.
So a Victorian parent raising coercive control in a parenting case isn’t stuck with a gap in state law. They’re using national law that treats the behaviour as directly relevant. It runs on the civil standard of proof, with no start date to worry about.
Questions our lawyers ask first: before we advise on any of this, we want to know whether there are children, whether you still live together, whether there’s an existing order in any state, and what’s written down. The answers change the order of steps completely.
Frequently asked questions
Is coercive control illegal in Victoria in 2026?
Not as a standalone criminal offence. Coercive control is recognised within the definition of family violence in the Family Violence Protection Act 2008 (Vic), and it can support a Family Violence Intervention Order. Breaching that order is a crime.
When will coercive control become a crime in Victoria?
There’s no date. The Crimes Amendment (Coercive Control) Bill 2025 is an opposition Bill that has been at second reading in the Legislative Council since December 2025. It may not pass in its current form.
Can I get an intervention order for coercive control in Victoria?
Yes. The definition of family violence in Victoria already includes coercive and controlling behaviour, along with economic and emotional abuse. You don’t need physical violence, and you don’t need a criminal charge.
Does coercive control affect parenting orders in Victoria?
Yes. Parenting matters run under the Family Law Act 1975, which applies across Australia. Family violence, including controlling behaviour, is directly relevant to what a court decides is in a child’s best interests.
What if the behaviour happened in another state?
Criminal law is state-based, so which offence applies depends on where the conduct occurred. Family law is national and applies the same way wherever you are. Get advice early if more than one state is involved.
How Unified Lawyers Can Help
Victorian clients often arrive believing they have no options. They’ve read that coercive control isn’t a crime here and drawn the obvious conclusion. Our experienced family law specialists work across intervention orders, parenting plans, property settlements and urgent applications. We give tailored legal advice on which of those will get you safe fastest.
What we see most often is people who’ve lived with this for years and never written any of it down, because nobody told them it counted. We help you build a record the court can work with, and we bring in the right support around you: family violence services, financial counsellors, forensic accountants where money has been used to control you. Everything you tell us is confidential.
Get in touch with us today. We’ll work out where you stand, what protection is available right now, and what order to do things in. We’ll guide you through every step of the process.
Conclusion
The honest answer to whether coercive control is illegal in Victoria is no, not as its own offence, and not for the foreseeable future. But that answer on its own is misleading, because it suggests the law has nothing to offer. It does.
Victoria wrote controlling behaviour into its family violence definition back in 2008. That wording drives a protection system you can use today, on a civil standard of proof, without waiting for a Bill to pass. Add national family law on top and the picture looks very different from “there’s no law against it”.
This article reflects the position as at August 2026. We review it whenever the Victorian Bill moves.