Ms ADDISON (Wendouree) (12:16): I too am very proud to rise to speak in support of the Justice Legislation Amendment (Sexual Offences and Other Matters) Bill 2022, and I agree with the member for Footscray that this is a historic day for our Parliament. I am honoured to have the opportunity to speak on this, and I am honoured to follow so many incredible women who I admire so much.

I want to thank the Minister for Women for leading our speakers today. I really welcomed her explanation of the changes to the definition of ‘consent’, and I really admire her commitment to making lasting change with regard to gender violence as the former Minister for Victim Support. I really want that to be noted, because I think it is so important.

And then to follow on as well from the Minister for Energy, the Minister for Prevention of Family Violence, the Minister for Mental Health, the former Minister for Prevention of Family Violence, the member for Cranbourne, the member for Eltham and the member for Footscray—this is what happens when you collect strong, determined women to government. Today marks 100 days until the election, and I hope that we see more women elected to this place, not only our excellent Labor women candidates but women from across the political spectrum. Women’s voices matter, and women’s representation is vital to ensuring women’s experiences are heard. This cannot be underestimated.

This bill contains critically important amendments which will improve sexual offence laws, better support victim-survivors and shift scrutiny onto the perpetrators, where it actually belongs. I want to thank the Attorney-General, her ministerial office and the Department of Justice and Community Safety for the work they have done to bring this bill to the house. I wish to recognise the considerable effort that has gone into drafting this legislation and thank them for their work; it is appreciated.

This is significant legislation, important legislation and legislation that I strongly support. Extensive stakeholder consultation is an important part of drafting any bill, but I believe this is especially the case for this important bill. The reforms being considered in the chamber today are the result of consulting with broad-ranging stakeholders, including the courts, specialist services, policy and advocacy bodies and many, many more in our community.

The reforms have also been informed by an extensive investigation by the Victorian Law Reform Commission in addition to other relevant research, and the reforms are fundamentally shaped by the lived experience of victim-survivors. I am incredibly thankful to them for their contributions. I too welcomed the opportunity to hear from the very brave and the very courageous Chanel Contos with the Labor women’s caucus, and I would really like to thank the Minister for Corrections for organising that meeting, because it was incredibly powerful and very, very worthwhile.

This bill implements a number of key legislative recommendations from Improving the Justice System Response to Sexual Offences, the 2021 report of the Victorian Law Reform Commission. It additionally improves criminal procedure laws relating to the operation of courts and the experience of victim-survivors within the justice system.

Firstly and crucially, it considers and amends the definition of consent within our laws. Let me be clear, consent means free and voluntary agreement. This agreement must not be assumed, and as such this bill introduces the affirmative model of consent which has been discussed, making it clear that active steps must be taken to ascertain consent before engaging in a sexual act. Such steps are inherently contextual and could be fulfilled verbally or nonverbally and a reasonable amount of time before an act, which could in most cases be immediately prior. The core principle here is that consent must be communicated. It must be affirmed not assumed. An affirmative model of consent will mitigate circumstances under existing law whereby prosecutions can be impeded on the grounds of reasonable belief that the complainant was consenting. Consent needs to be confirmed. It cannot be simply assumed. Reasonable belief should require saying something or doing something. This is not a novel concept, and it is vital that it is reflected in our laws.

The bill also presents several circumstances under which consent is not present. These amendments, with additions to existing circumstances within the Crimes Act 1958, are non-exhaustive but play a crucial role in reinforcing what consent is and what consent is not, because there is not consent when submission occurs as a result of force or harm or fear of force or harm, because there is not consent when it occurs as a result of coercion or intimidation, because there is not consent when a person is overborne by the abuse of a relationship of authority or trust, because there is not consent when the agreement comes from false or misleading representation about payment and because there is not consent when there is an understanding that a condom will be used but it is instead intentionally tampered with, removed or not used at all.

All of these circumstances are significant. However, I want to address the last in particular. The bill makes it clear that stealthing is a crime. If there is an agreement explicit or implicit about the use of a condom, then consent is contingent upon that. Stealthing is reprehensible, and it is already a crime. It poses a significant health risk through the potential for pregnancy or the transmission of infection, but it also violates a person’s autonomy over their own body and their choices. The seriousness of this offence deserves clear recognition in our laws, and this bill does this by making it explicit that the conduct can be prosecuted as rape or sexual assault.

Additionally, this bill makes critical amendments which target image-based sexual offences. Most will be moved into the Crimes Act in order to elevate them from summary to indictable offences, reflecting the seriousness of image-based sexual offences. This conduct involves taking and distributing or threatening to distribute intimate images without consent. It is a growing problem that is under-reported to police, yet abuse can cause significant harm. This bill will improve related laws in several additional ways, including amending the definition of an intimate image to better protect people of diverse genders, including digitally altered images as well as images taken with knowledge but without consent, enabling court-issued disposal orders for intimate images, increasing maximum penalties to three years imprisonment and extending protections offered to complainants, such as provisions to suppress their identity.

Indeed, addressing the experiences of victim-survivors throughout the justice system is another critical aspect of this bill. Pre-trial cross-examination protections will be strengthened, magistrates will be required to make additional considerations before granting leave for cross-examination of victims of sexual or family violence and, if leave is still granted, they must provide their reasoning. Ground rule hearings will be mandated prior to questioning all complainants in sexual offence matters, so that the court can consider how to fairly and effectively meet the needs of the witness.

Protections for the confidential communications of victim-survivors will be strengthened, including by expanding these to cover health information and ensuring that their concerns are considered in applications for sensitive records. Additionally, improved jury directions will be required in sexual offence trials to address common misconceptions and these directions encouraged to be made as early as possible, while trial judges will also be required to explain the meaning of ‘proof beyond reasonable doubt’ in criminal trials.

This is a comprehensive and crucial bill. It contains further reforms around removing outdated language from legislation, including references to ‘chastity’, a term from the 13th century, and clarifies timing-related concerns in the prosecution of past offences. It will also extend provisions that combats court backlogs, supporting the use of remote access and digital technologies in effective justice.

In closing I wish to thank the women’s health organisations across our state but particularly in my community of Ballarat. I wish to thank Ballarat Centre Against Sexual Assault and Women’s Health Grampians for the important work they do within my community. These stronger laws will make Victoria better and fairer, not only for women and girls but for all Victorians.

I welcome the introduction of the Justice Legislation Amendment (Sexual Offences and Other Matters) Bill 2022 and commend the bill to house.

Watch and read more of my speeches to Parliament here, including responses from ministers on how we’re working for Wendouree.

You can also view videos from Parliament, browse Hansard transcripts, learn about bills and legislation, and much more at the Parliament of Victoria’s website.