A draft bill released by the NSW Attorney-General would see people convicted of coercive control in intimate partner relationships jailed for up to seven years.
It comes after a parliamentary inquiry found coercive control should be criminalised, with at least 29 preventable murders of women and children in 2020 alone.
Coercive control is a form of domestic abuse that involves patterns of behaviour which have the effect of denying victims their autonomy and independence.
This can involve physical, sexual, psychological or financial abuse.
The three-day inquiry heard harrowing personal stories, with more than 100 submissions tendered in February last year.
The resulting report, which contained 23 recommendations, found existing laws in NSW did not adequately cover coercive and controlling behaviour.
The government is now seeking public feedback on a draft bill to correct that.
NSW Attorney-General, Mark Speakman, said it was a complex issue that required careful consideration.
"It's critical that we have consultation to ensure that the reforms only capture very serious incidents of abuse," he said.
"They [should] avoid overreach and that they don't unintentionally endanger the very people in our community that we're seeking to help.
"Coercive control is insidious and sadly, it's a significant red flag for intimate partner homicide."
Analysis by the Domestic Violence Review Team found that 111 of the 112 victims of intimate partner domestic homicides in NSW between March 2008 and June 2016 were subjected to coercive and controlling behaviour before their deaths.
The Minister for Women's Safety and Sexual Violence, Natalie Ward, said the draft bill also introduced a definition of domestic abuse.
"These reforms are crucial to ensuring that we recognise in law a pattern of behaviour which is identified as a precursor to domestic violence deaths," she said.
'More time needed' say stakeholders
While the draft bill has been welcomed by women's safety advocates, some are calling for more consultation time.
Interim Domestic Violence NSW chief executive, Elise Phillips, said with public consultation ending in August, six weeks was not long enough to consider the risks and complexities.
"The criminalisation of coercive control has the potential to improve the safety of people experiencing domestic and family violence in NSW but there must be sufficient consultation, training for police and courts and resourcing for the specialist DFV sector," she said.
"The resources that have been committed so far are not sufficient to effectively embed the legislative changes and ensure holistic support is available for victim-survivors experiencing coercive control."
The organisation raised caution that the legislation must not further discriminate against already marginalised groups.
Some of the submissions sent to last year's parliamentary inquiry expressed concern that the proposed legislation could prejudice men.
"We support criminalisation of coercive control but the NSW government must ensure they allocate the time and resources required to get it right," Ms Phillips said.
The final bill is expected to be introduced to parliament before the end of the year.
