Kate Chaney (Curtin, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in support of the Crimes Amendment (Strengthening the Criminal Justice Response to Sexual Violence) Bill 2024. For survivors of sexual violence and abuse, participating in the criminal justice system is really challenging. To have suffered a traumatic event and then be expected to detail and relive the trauma again and again must be agonising. Coupled with the shame and stigma that so often accompanies these kinds of crimes, it's a situation that you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy.

To recognise these difficulties, the Commonwealth Crimes Act currently includes special rules that offer protections to victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and vulnerable persons in Commonwealth criminal proceedings. These include things like special provisions governing the admissibility of evidence, rules in relation to cross-examining vulnerable witnesses, provisions for the use of CCTV and screens for vulnerable persons to give evidence, and provisions for the prerecording of the testimony of a vulnerable witness's evidence.

It's good to see government responding to the recommendations of the royal commission report from 2017. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was established in 2013 in response to allegations of sexual abuse of children in institutional contexts that had been emerging in Australia for many years. It was in response to consistent advocacy from victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and those who represent and support them. The final report was produced after more than 8,000 personal stories were heard in private sessions and more than a thousand survivors provided a written account of their experience. It was a comprehensive and important body of work.

I note that the fifth Annual Progress Report on implementation was published in 2022 and showed that all 206 Commonwealth related recommendations from the royal commission are now implemented or in progress. I thank all of those contributors to this important milestone for their work. I also acknowledge the ongoing work in this area through the first national action plan of the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse and the Standing Council of Attorneys-General Work Plan to Strengthen Criminal Justice Responses to Sexual Assault.

But what about the specifics of this bill? This new bill legislates four of the recommendations from the royal commission. It's most certainly in the interests of vulnerable adults and in the interests of an effective criminal justice system that people are given the opportunity to give what has been described as their 'best evidence' in court. I welcome each of these four changes.

First, it expands the range of offences and increases protections to adults who were children at the time of the offence. This is important, particularly as we know that repressed childhood trauma can resurface well into adulthood. Vulnerable adults who are grappling with memories of childhood crimes should also be afforded protection.

Second, it makes evidence about sexual reputation inadmissible for all victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. This is an absolute no-brainer. All stakeholders and commentators have supported this change, with the Law Council of Australia saying it would:

… provide significant protections for vulnerable complainants while retaining exceptions for properly relevant and probative evidence.

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All stakeholders and commentators have supported this change, with the Australian Law Council saying it would provide significant protections for vulnerable complainants while retaining exceptions for properly relevant and probative evidence. I think it's an essential change because it reduces the ability for the victim to be blamed for the crime by referring to their history or reputation. This change means the evidence is about the accused rather than the behaviour of the victim.

Third, it introduces the capacity to pre-recorded evidence. The Law Council was concerned about this provision because it believed that this could create delays to trial proceedings as well as increases in costs. The Law Council also noted that there's no provision in the bill to provide an accused with the right to full disclosure before the pre- recording of evidence commences. While I acknowledge that there are concerns, I think the benefits for victims outweigh the costs and logistics for the system. The court retains a discretion to order pre-recording of evidence hearings only when it's satisfied that it's in the interest of justice to do so. This seems to provide an opportunity to balance the interests of a vulnerable witness and the interests of an accused.

Finally, this bill allows a child witness, child complainant or vulnerable adult to publish self identifying information. In the past, the criminal justice system compounded the victim 's experience by putting a muzzle on them, adding to their trauma by requiring them to remain silent and to hide their identity. This important reform restores a rightful agency to be vulnerable complainant-witness to disclose who they are in the context of these proceedings and to talk about what they have experienced. The grim reality is that, in sexual abuse cases, many victims and vulnerable people remain too fearful to complain and subject themselves to the risk that the criminal justice system will fail to adequately support and protect them. I welcome any measures that address this fear.

I support this amendment and encourage the government to continue to progress and implement all recommendations in the 2017 royal commission report.

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