Major reforms to sexual offences law

• Reforms will simplify and clarify existing laws
• Law will deal more effectively with cases of repeated and systematic offending
• Napthine Government building a safer Victoria

New laws being brought into Parliament today by the Victorian Coalition Government will improve sexual offences laws to ensure that perpetrators are held to account.

Attorney-General, Robert Clark said the legislation would make key sexual offences, including rape, clearer and simpler and make jury directions about those offences easier to understand.

Many of the reforms are based on proposals put forward in the Department of Justice’s Review of Sexual Offences: Consultation Paper, issued in October last year.

“The Bill will hold offenders of sexual crimes to account by simplifying and clarifying existing laws, making it easier for juries to determine whether or not an accused is guilty of a sexual offence,” Mr Clark said.

The new laws will require that when an accused charged with a sexual offence claims that they believed the victim was consenting, that belief will in future have to be reasonable in the circumstances. This legal test has operated successfully in other jurisdictions, including New South Wales and the United Kingdom.

“Too often in the past offenders have sought to escape liability by claiming they genuinely believed the victim was consenting, even though there was no reasonable basis for such a belief,” Mr Clark said.

“This reform will prevent offenders escaping conviction by arguing that they thought the victim was consenting when there was no reasonable basis for such a belief.”

The Bill also provides for a ‘course of conduct charge’ for repeated offending, including sexual offences. This new approach will make it easier for repeated and systematic sexual offending to be prosecuted without having to prove each and every separate instance.

“Perpetrators of repeated and prolonged sexual abuse can now be brought to account without the need for victims to establish the specific details of each instance of abuse,” Mr Clark said.

“Many victims of childhood sexual abuse don’t come forward until years after the abuse and are unable to provide the specific details of what happened to them on specific dates.

“The prosecution will now be able to allege a course of conduct which constitutes the offence.”

The legislation will also remove inappropriate time limits on the prosecution of certain sexual offences against children committed prior to 1991, which will allow for the prosecution of these offences. It also removes redundant marriage exceptions to sexual offences against children.

“The Government is committed to making Victoria’s sexual offence laws clearer, simpler and fairer and improving the effectiveness of the law in dealing with cases of repeated and systematic offending,” Mr Clark said.