The first Australian to be jailed after being convicted of coercive control exposes a form of domestic violence that has previously gone under the radar.
Callum Fairleigh, 34, has been jailed for two years with a non-parole period of 15 months after a violent six-year relationship, during which his partner felt powerless until police suggested she was a victim of coercive control.
As a result, Fairleigh was arrested in January 2025, charged with coercive control, along with stalking and six offences of breaching an Apprehended Violence Order, and subsequently jailed for disregarding bail conditions. He had form: on 11 previous occasions he had been charged with domestic violence and other violent offences. Even from jail, he continued to harass his victim by mail.
He was jailed last month and his victim granted a 10-year AVO.
Coercive control is a form of domestic abuse involving repeated patterns of abusive behaviour – including physical, sexual, psychological, emotional or financial abuse – the cumulative effect of which is to rob victims of their autonomy and independence.
NSW criminalised the offence in July 2024. Police recorded 386 coercive control incidents between July 2024 and September 2025, resulting in 18 charges. The first person convicted of the offence in December 2024 was issued an Intensive Corrections Order.
Two thirds of coercive control incidents were accompanied by another offence, including stalking, domestic assault or malicious damage. The most common controlling behaviour was harassment, monitoring or tracking.
Historically, family and domestic violence was understood as physical and/or sexual violence, with a focus on single or episodic acts of violence. It is now seen to cover a wider range of behaviours and harms, including emotional abuse, harassment, stalking and controlling behaviours. Coercive control can be understood as a commonly occurring foundation for family and domestic violence.
All states and territories have laws that respond to family and domestic violence. However, despite the groundswell for coercive control legislation building for years around the nation, currently only NSW and Queensland have specific laws addressing the issue.
In the lead-up to the legislation, the NSW Domestic Violence Death Review Team found that in 97 per cent of intimate partner domestic violence homicide cases between 2019 and 2021, the victim had experienced coercive and controlling behaviours before being killed. The story was the same in the ACT, where coercive control was a factor in almost every domestic violence death reviewed over a two-decade period. Nationally, statistics from the federal Institute of Health and Welfare show one woman was killed every eight days.
Domestic violence remains a scourge that continues to have huge personal, social and economic effects despite long years of efforts by governments and institutions to reduce harm. But until now, the shame, fear and isolation of victims have helped protect brutal men from the consequences of their actions.
Callum Fairleigh’s victim was able to obtain protection because NSW recognised coercive control as part of a bully’s repertoire. With thousands needing similar help, it is a welcome singular moment of justice served.
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