A scarcity of coercive control charges have been defended a year after the domestic violence behaviour was criminalised.

NSW became the first Australian state to specifically outlaw coercive control - patterns of abuse used to hurt, scare, intimidate, threaten or control someone - in 2022.

The standalone offence is part of efforts to curb domestic and family violence, given one in four women and one in 14 men experience physical and or sexual violence from an intimate partner, according to the federal government.

Police recorded 297 incidents of coercive control and laid nine charges since the laws came into effect in July 2024, the state's crime statistics bureau said in a report on Friday.

NSW Premier Chris Minns said he expected reports to authorities of the offence to increase in c

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