DV prevention advocates want animal abuse defined in SA's coercive control laws

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6 hours ago

In the throes of intimate partner violence, Amber's dogs were more than a comfort.
They were her closest confidants and a source of protection.
"Looking at my dogs every day ... it shows you that it's not just about you in that situation," she said.
As the violence evolved, Amber's "gentle but boisterous" staffies were kept away from her.
She said it was "agonising to be separate from them".
Amber made the decision to leave, but no shelters could accommodate her pets.
She would return to the house to feed and comfort them and was distressed to see the neglect they endured while she was gone.
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"[One] had a cut on the top of her head … they weren't being fed adequately, they weren't being walked or stimulated in any way that they were used to," she said.
"They'd both lost a lot of weight and would flinch when you'd approach them at times, as if they were scared of being hurt.
"And I was putting myself in an extremely unsafe environment."
Domestic violence victim-survivors and the Law Society of South Australia want stronger legal provisions for domestic violence against pets.
A bill to criminalise coercive control passed South Australia's lower house but has stalled in the upper house.
While animal abuse is referenced in the legislation — in an example about being convicted of another offence like animal cruelty — it is not explicitly listed as a form of control.
"(Animal abuse) needs to be included within the definition to avoid any possibility that it's not considered as a means of coercive control."
When victim-survivor Jennifer Howard left a domestic violence situation she could not take her dogs.
"My dogs eventually ended up at the pound and were likely euthanased," she said.
To heal and help others in the same situation, Ms Howard founded Adelaide-based charity Safe Pets Safe Families which runs an animal foster program.
Speaking at South Australia's Royal Commission into Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence in March — which will hand down its findings this month — Ms Howard explained how she had seen the human-animal bond get weaponised.
"I've had some cases where a perpetrator has harmed the pet in front of the victim and said; 'you'll be next' to control them," she said.
"That if they don't return home; 'this is what's going to happen' to their animal, so a lot of the time that's what draws people back to the house."
A 2024 Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) literature review found it was common for victim-survivors to delay leaving, stay with or return to perpetrators because they could not take their animals.
"They have really valid safety concerns for their animals if left behind," co-author and AIFS senior research officer Kylie Butler said.
"You often have perpetrators that will try to isolate women and kids from traditional social support (like) family and friends, so the bonds between people and animals can be even more strong in these situations.
The government study also found animal abuse was an early warning sign of intimate partner violence.
Ms Butler said some victim-survivors believed the abuse would be dismissed by support workers or law enforcement, because it was a pet being harmed and "not a person".
"The more people know about it, the more seriously it is taken," she said.
The report recommended more animal-inclusive crisis accommodation, for animals to be included in safety planning, and strengthening collaborations between domestic and family violence services and pet foster services with the aim of reunification.
It also found more training was needed for police, paramedics and vets in responding to domestic and family violence.
"Being aware of this link … being aware of some of those early warning signs that it might be happening, but also knowing what to do then," Ms Butler said.
Family Law and Domestic and Family Violence Committee Chair at Women's Legal Services Australia Meaghan Bradshaw said because domestic violence laws were formed by the states and territories, there was "some inconsistency in the way that animal abuse is recognised".
"Domestic violence is complex … and it's important that all of the laws recognise the ways that it can occur, which can also include animal abuse," she said.
In South Australia, a 2023 draft of the coercive control bill included harming animals in a list of coercive control examples, similarly to legislation in NSW.
In New South Wales, "behaviour that causes death or injury to an animal, or otherwise makes use of an animal to threaten a person" comes under the legal definition of domestic abuse.
But South Australian Attorney-General Kyam Maher said this was dropped following feedback from advocacy groups, revealing concerns that authorities may see a list of behaviours as exhaustive.
"What we don't want to do is … have things excluded and not count as coercive control, because it's any sort of behaviour that seeks to restrict freedoms and any sort of harm that's threatened, including psychological harm that we want captured," he said.
"We want to make sure it's as broad as possible."
However, after questions to Mr Maher from the ABC he said the state government was considering making the inclusion.
With the help of Jennifer Howard's charity, Amber's pets were cared for until she was able to home them again.
"[They] are grey and old, which as an animal owner is what you would like," Amber said.
Ms Howard and Amber want animal abuse as part of the "broad" definition of coercive control.
"If we fail to recognise animals in domestic violence situations, we are failing to save human lives as well," Ms Howard said.
"It's such a missing piece of the puzzle."
They said more awareness of this risk factor could help end the national domestic violence crisis.
"I think that if perpetrators knew the extent of what harming an animal could lead to, not all of them, but I think it would deter some of them," Amber said.