The organisation’s Domestic Violence Unit marked its tenth anniversary this week by highlighting the alarming trend of technology-facilitated abuse, with figures showing nearly 8,000 women sought assistance in the past financial year – the highest number since the unit’s establishment.
Data released by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) underscores the severity of the issue, documenting 224 recorded incidents of coercive control. Of particular concern is that 60 per cent of these cases involved harassment, monitoring and tracking through digital means.
The milestone anniversary comes at a critical time as domestic violence advocates grapple with increasingly sophisticated methods of abuse.
Technology-enabled harassment and surveillance have emerged as significant weapons in perpetrators’ arsenals, creating new challenges for both victims and support services.
Legal Aid NSW’s warning highlights how traditional domestic violence has evolved in the digital age, with abusers exploiting smartphones, social media platforms, GPS tracking, and other technologies to maintain control over their victims even when physically separated.
“Smartphone use has skyrocketed in the past ten years and so has the incidence of domestic violence involving digital technology,” said Director Domestic and Family Violence Anna Baltins.
“Technology-facilitated coercive control is becoming increasingly common and it’s vital that people recognise the signs of it.
“It can involve victims being forced to hand over their phone or to give the perpetrator access to their calls, messages, emails, social media pages and bank accounts.
“This non-physical abuse is insidious. It can hide in plain sight and can lead to or reinforce physical violence.,” Baltins said
“We also see victims being tracked through banking apps, toll accounts and GPS trackers in their cars. Surveillance devices are being hidden in their homes and their kids’ phones.
“We are also seeing other coercive behaviours that involve victims being isolated from family and friends, stopped from getting jobs, and being told what to wear and where they can go.” she said.
Counting The Cost of Financial Abuse
The Domestic Violence Unit is a highly specialised team that includes lawyers, mental health professionals, case workers and financial counsellors.
“Financial abuse is increasingly common and can involve perpetrators withholding money or controlling household spending,” Ms Baltins says.
“Some abusers maliciously rack up large debts under a victim’s name through credit cards, bank loans, Centrelink debts and utility bills. In these situations, our unit has been able to waive more than $200,000 in debt between 2023-24 for victim-survivors of this abuse.”
As domestic violence rates rise, so has demand for legal assistance. In the past two years there has been a 69 per cent increase in the number of women seeking legal advice from the Domestic Violence Unit.
In the past ten years, the figure increased 700 per cent. So far this year, the DVU has provided about 3,000 legal advice services – the highest number in five years.
“Legal Aid NSW’s Domestic Violence Unit does vital work in assisting women escaping domestic and family violence,” says Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Jodie Harrison.
“The legal system can be very daunting for victim-survivors. The Domestic Violence Unit, working with the Women’s Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Service, helps them navigate the process and makes sure their interests are advocated for and protected.
“Last year, coercive control became a criminal offence. Coercive control is insidious abuse and manifests in many ways, including tracking victim-survivors through their phone, or racking up debts in their names.
“The support the Domestic Violence Unit provides to victim-survivors in recognising financial abuse and tech-facilitated coercive control, as well as recovering money for them, allows them to reclaim their lives and live free from violence and abuse.”
As Legal Aid NSW marks a decade of supporting victims, it warns that domestic violence is evolving alongside technology, making it more pervasive and harder to detect.
The organisation urges everyone to stay informed about digital abuse tactics and to reach out for help if they suspect they’re being targeted
