‘Racist’: coercive control laws could harm Indigenous women in Queensland, advocates warn

Academic fears taskforce looking into domestic violence will further empower a criminal justice system already failing First Nations women

The terms of reference for the Queensland women's safety and justice taskforce - which is looking at laws to ban coercive control - are explicitly racist" and ignore the experiences of First Nations women, academics and advocates say.

The state taskforce headed by the former court of appeal president Margaret McMurdo is the centrepiece of government efforts to tackle the continued escalation of domestic violence.