JUSTICE LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (SEXUAL OFFENCES AND OTHER MATTERS) BILL 2022

Ms THEOPHANOUS (Northcote): That was all a bit unnecessary, wasn’t it? I expect it from the Liberal Party. I did not expect the Greens party to want to shut down debate on the Justice Legislation (Sexual Offences and Other Matters) Bill 2022, but there you go.

Ms McLeish: On a point of order, Speaker, the member on her feet is absolutely misrepresenting the situation. There was an agreement that we would change—

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Eildon, you will resume your seat or leave the chamber. That is not a point of order.

Ms THEOPHANOUS: Thank you, Speaker. I am delighted to continue debating this very important bill despite the attempts that we have just seen. It is with a deep sense of responsibility to both the victim-survivors and the generations of Victorians to come that I rise to speak in support of this bill—this very important bill. Of course we should not need a bill like this, but the reality is that we do.

Though invariably there will be pushback and commentary from those who feel uncomfortable speaking about sexual violence, that should not and will not deter us. The fight for equality and safety is ongoing, and we will not stop raising our voices and making noise about it. We raised our voices when we fought for the vote. We raised our voices when we fought for pay equality. We raised our voices when we fought for paid parental leave, for reproductive rights, for protections against discrimination and for safety in our homes and in our workplaces. We will not stop raising our voices, and it has been an honour throughout my time both as an MP and before that as a women’s policy adviser to lend my voice to that movement and to that legacy. So I join with all the voices that have come before mine for the sake of all the voices that will come after, because the truth is that our fight for equality and safety is nowhere near over, and although that can be difficult to talk about, it is necessary to talk about. We should be uncomfortable with the rates of sexual violence in Victoria—sexual violence that is overwhelmingly suffered by women, sexual violence that causes devastating and long-term harm. We should be horrified and angry. But more than that, we are motivated to be here in this house of Parliament fighting for change by bringing forward this historic bill that will enshrine affirmative consent into law in Victoria.

It has been a long journey to get here, a journey that so many strong women members of Parliament in our Labor government have been a part of and that so many outside of this Parliament have been a part of too—victim-survivors, activists, allies, support services and feminist organisations. But in particular I want to acknowledge the strong young women that have been at the forefront of this work. Powerful advocates like Saxon Mullins, Grace Tame, Brittany Higgins and Chanel Contos have driven national conversations around sexual violence and consent.

In my own community too over the past four years I have had countless conversations with young people in Northcote, and their message is loud and clear: they want to see cultural change and change to the way sexual violence is treated in the justice system. They are done with the victim blaming and the gaslighting that has characterised so many of our own formative years. I am particularly reminded of a powerful group of young women from Northcote High School who have since graduated but who I spoke to at length about these issues and who continue to advocate for change. It was around the time of those awful and bizarre milkshake consent videos that were released by the Morrison government—a very good example of how not to talk about consent. These young women were going through the Respectful Relationships program at school at the same time, and they were energised to make that program the best that it could be. So they worked with their teachers and classmates and specialist services to explore how it could be strengthened, particularly around improving our collective understandings of consent, and they produced a wonderful piece of work around this. It is strong, powerful young people like these that have driven change and will continue to drive change in our society, and I could not be prouder to be using my voice in this Parliament to echo theirs, because there is no place for sexual violence in Victoria.

As I say those words, I do feel like they are manifestly inadequate for expressing the real trauma, the personal cost and the experience itself that is described by words like ‘sexual violence’ and ‘rape’. But this is not abstract, and those words cannot really describe it. It is happening right now to women that we know. It happened yesterday and it is happening tomorrow, and for too many there just is no justice. Our culture and our justice system have not made reporting safe for women, and when offences are reported just one in 23 rape cases results in conviction. The devastating, crushing feeling of that injustice is not easy to heal from. It perpetuates a situation where far too many perpetrators are getting away with it, and it buttresses a culture in which women continue to be disempowered, disrespected and devalued. As I said, this bill should not be necessary, but it is.

The Labor government in Victoria has embarked on an enormous program of reform towards gender equality and ending gendered violence. From the Royal Commission into Family Violence to our Gender Equality Act 2020 and Respectful Relationships in schools, we have been ambitious and we have been determined. In 2020 we asked the Victorian Law Reform Commission (VLRC) to look into the justice system’s responses to sexual offences. The resulting report found that sexual violence is widespread and under-reported and causes significant harm and, even when reported, convictions are rare. As the commission noted:

Too often, people who have experienced sexual violence do not get what they need or want from the justice system … Instead, the justice system often leaves them feeling alone, invisible, and as if they are the ones on trial.

This bill shifts the scales. It redefines the meaning of consent and sends a clear message about responsibility. Critically it says to victim-survivors, ‘This is not your fault, and it never was your fault’.

I know that this bill has been subject to some panicky commentary that has sought to criticise or trivialise the reforms, with claims ranging from the bill preventing people from kissing their partners to stopping teenagers exploring their sexuality and even that it will kill romance, as if spontaneity and sexual assault are in any way synonymous, as if young people cannot explore sexuality in a way that is both respectful and safe—let us give them credit here—and as if women do not know when they are being sexually assaulted and perpetrators are just misunderstood. It is worth noting that many of these comments reflect the old stereotypes and narratives that this bill seeks to address. We cannot and must not accept the narrative that many sexual assaults derive from misunderstandings or from the misleading actions of victim-survivors. That is victim blaming. Instead we need to have an open and honest conversation about what positive, respectful relationships look like, and we must set a legislative standard that reflects and leads community expectations.

This bill means consent must be actively sought and communicated, not just assumed. It puts a focus on the need to actively seek consent and a focus on the actions of the accused. Simply put, you need a clear and enthusiastic go-ahead. As others have said, it is not ‘no means no’ anymore, it is ‘yes means yes’, and this change in focus is critical to accurately reflecting the reality of sexual violence and the experience of victim-survivors in court. The VLRC found that victim-survivors continue to be questioned and judged on outdated notions of whether they said no or fought back, but we know that not resisting is not the same as consent. Fear of harm, coercion and power imbalances all contribute to how we respond in moments of crisis.

As part of this bill we are also explicitly legislating to make stealthing, which is the non-use of or tampering with a condom without consent, a crime, and I am very pleased to support that aspect of the bill. I think it is critical. We have come a long way in terms of generational change, but there is no doubt that education still has an important role to play here, and I am pleased that we are also committed to delivering community-based consent education. I do not have time to say all the things that I want to, but we do need to ensure that consent is understood, supported and adopted in Victoria. So that is a critical part of the reform. Ultimately the goal is to stop sexual violence before it happens, and these reforms have the potential to deliver that change.

As I finish up my remarks I just want to thank the brave victim-survivors who have told their stories and allowed us to propel these reforms. Today we are changing the law for you and for every single Victorian. I hope that this gives our young people in particular hope and certainty, and I commend the bill to the house.