Christian domestic abuse charity says definition needs to address the church’s response too

The government introduced the Domestic Abuse Bill to parliament on Tuesday, which will define the term and require local councils to provide housing for victims.

It will define domestic abuse as physical or sexual abuse; violent or threatening behaviour; controlling or coercive behaviour; economic abuse or psychological, emotional or other abuse.

The bill also proposes establishing a full-time Domestic Abuse Commissioner to work on the issue and to prohibit the cross-examining of victims in family courts by their abusers.

Mandy Marshall from Restored, a Christian charity that equips churches to call out domestic abuse and teach about it, told Premier’s News Hour that she largely welcomes the bill: “It’s really important that we get a comprehensive view of what domestic abuse is and what it looks like. Often people think of it as physical abuse or sexual abuse, which is very visible, but actually domestic abuse is insidious and abusers will use different tactics of abuse, because at the heart of abuse is power and control over a person.

“In essence, at the heart of it is sin and selfishness and saying ‘you’re there to serve my needs and I will do whatever is in my control and power to make you serve my needs’. So, that includes economic abuse, verbal violence, psychological control, which often is invisible to the outside world but actually can have devastating…