00:00For more than three decades, Claudia, not her real name, says her former partner controlled
00:08her life.
00:09Control, manipulation, sexual abuse, financial abuse, he took everything from me.
00:15It's experiences like hers the SA government wants outlawed.
00:20Coercive control is an insidious form of domestic violence that involves overwhelmingly males
00:26controlling many aspects of the lives of their partners.
00:29Proposed laws would ban people from controlling their partner in a way that would be likely
00:34to cause physical or psychological harm.
00:37The government says it would take about two years to implement the legislation.
00:41To make sure that police, that courts are educated about how to identify an offence
00:47of coercive control.
00:49While domestic violence services welcome the move, they say they're already stretched to
00:54capacity.
00:55In April, the domestic violence crisis line had the highest number of calls it had ever
00:58experienced.
00:59That then increased in June and then on July 1 we had the highest number.
01:04Mary Leaker says she's asked the government for just under $900,000 to help meet demand.
01:10We have written to the Premier to raise our urgent concerns about the pressure on our
01:15frontline services and at this stage we're yet to receive a response.
01:20I acknowledge the sector's concerns.
01:23We are in the midst of an incredibly important royal commission which we have asked to identify
01:31any gaps.
01:32In June, only 65% of calls to SA's domestic violence crisis line were answered.
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