Victoria is adopting an award-winning South Australian campaign designed to help young people recognise the signs of coercive control in relationships.
Respect Victoria has licensed the See the Signs campaign from the South Australian Government and adapted it for Victorian audiences. The Victorian version is being launched at Parliament House in Melbourne alongside domestic violence campaigner Rosie Batty AO, former AFL player and healthy masculinities advocate Mitch Brown, and representatives from the family violence sector.
Developed in South Australia and first launched in 2023, See the Signs was created by advertising agency Showpony. The campaign encourages young women and men to identify controlling behaviour and distinguish between actions that may initially appear caring or protective and patterns intended to control another person.
Coercive control can involve threats, humiliation, stalking, monitoring, isolation and manipulation. Over time, these behaviours can undermine a person’s confidence and independence and make it harder to leave an abusive relationship.
The Victorian adaptation retains the central concept of the South Australian campaign while being tailored to the local context. It will target Victorians aged 18 to 39 through a range of channels, with social and digital media used to reach younger audiences.
South Australia has also introduced legislation targeting coercive control. In September 2025, it became the third Australian state to criminalise coercive control, with the offence carrying a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment.
Under the state’s Building Safer Futures five-year implementation plan, released last week, a working group will be established this year to support implementation of the legislation.
The South Australian Government has also allocated funding as part of its $674 million response to the Royal Commission to develop and roll out a new multi-year community awareness campaign focused on domestic, family and sexual violence, including coercive control.
Alice Rolls said the adoption of See the Signs by Victoria demonstrated the reach of work developed in South Australia.
“When we developed See the Signs, we set out to change the way people understand coercive control,” she said.
Rolls said recognising behaviours such as monitoring, humiliation and isolation was important in helping people identify coercive control.
The Victorian launch gives the campaign a new audience while retaining its original focus on helping people identify controlling behaviour before it becomes normalised within a relationship.
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