A NSW government ad campaign raising awareness of coercive control is being rolled out for multicultural communities ahead of laws that will criminalise domestic abuse in the state.
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The government said on Monday the campaign for Arabic, Vietnamese, Cantonese and Mandarin speakers was part of improving public understanding of coercive control among culturally and linguistically diverse communities.
NSW in July will become the first Australian jurisdiction to outlaw coercive control, which is when someone repeatedly hurts, scares or isolates another person to control them, according to the government.
The abuse will become a standalone offence punishable by up to seven years in jail under the new legislation, which was passed by parliament last year.
In announcing the new campaign, Minister for Women Jodie Harrison said coercive control was an "insidious abuse" that could be hard to recognise.
"We also know that people from multicultural backgrounds are less likely to seek help due to cultural and language barriers, which is why we need to make sure our message is reaching them," she said in a statement.
The advertising campaign, to start on Monday, uses the image of a spider's web to symbolise the interconnected pattern of behaviours which traps victims of coercive control, the government said.
It follows a broader advertising campaign on the issue that started this month.
Some 97 per cent of NSW intimate partner homicides between 2000 and 2018 were preceded by coercive control, the government has said.
Canberra earlier this year agreed to almost $1 billion in measures to tackle domestic abuse after it said a woman had been killed every four days this year.
Australian Associated Press
