Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee inquiry report into sexual consent laws. At the outset, as the chair of that inquiry, Senator Paul Scarr, did, I commend not only the participants in that inquiry but also all of the incredibly brave, tenacious and gutsy witnesses who shared their stories with us and who have drawn strength from their hideous experiences and are now harnessing incredible internal wells of strength to use their experiences to try to fix the system and make sure that other people—and it's mostly women—don't face the same kinds of traumatic experiences. I give an absolute shout-out and incredible respect to all of those survivors who have borne up under such a shitty discriminatory system and who are now doing all that they can to try to change that system.

So few women report their sexual assault and even fewer rapes and sexual assaults end in conviction. Women know that the criminal justice system is stacked against them—that's why they don't report. Women know that police won't believe them. Women know that they will be put on trial when it comes to court. I commend Senator Nita Green, who initiated this inquiry to look at whether the disparity of consent laws around the country is exacerbating that and what more can be done in this space. I'm sure Senator Green would love to be speaking to this report. She's overseas for work.

We have reached a consensus report, here. It's a strong report. It's a dignified report and it makes some incredibly strong and powerful recommendations. I'm so proud that the Senate was able to come to a consensus on this crucial matter. It feels this like we have a moment here. I would urge the government to really take these recommendations seriously and to act on them. Chief amongst the recommendations, and there are so many good ones in here, I want to focus first on the recommendation for an independent taskforce to oversight universities and the inadequate current tertiary so-called oversight body, TEQSA—to actually oversight both of those bodies for their appalling handling of sexual assault allegations and sexual assaults on campus, so far.

Students have been calling for a taskforce because the universities and TEQSA have been so woeful at dealing with the legions of rapes and sexual assaults that happen on campus. I'm so proud that this committee has endorsed those calls and has recommended that we do have an independent taskforce charged with looking at these issues—not just to look on campus and on residence but to look at the policies and practices of universities to prevent and respond to sexual assault, including:

That transparency one is key because what we saw throughout the whole course of the hearing was brand protection by Universities Australia. They wouldn't tell us which of the vice-chancellors had blocked the sexual-consent education campaign that $1.5 million of taxpayers' money had been allocated to develop and that was pulled, redesigned and redelivered in the blandest of ways that didn't offend their sensibilities. They were protecting their brands; they were not protecting their students. It's an abomination and that is exactly why we need a taskforce, because they are not keeping students safe on campus, and everybody deserves that safety.

I note the work of End Rape on Campus, who have been incredible advocates for many years now. Sharna Bremner and Nina Funnell have already been thanked and acknowledged by Senator Scarr. They have worked so hard on these issues for so long, often on a volunteer basis and with the vicarious trauma weighing heavily upon them. They are incredible advocates. We've also had, recently, the emergence of the STOP Campaign run by some other outstanding young students. Just this morning, they published their submission to the Australian Universities Accord panel, which further details experiences of sexual violence and institutional betrayal in university residence halls and student accommodation. They have echoed the call of this committee, and we have echoed their call, for the establishment of an independent taskforce to oversight universities and TEQSA to actually prevent and respond to sexual violence.

I am calling on Minister Clare to get serious and establish this taskforce. I know you've set up a working group and I know you want to wait another six months until the final University Accord reforms come down. That is too long to wait. Universities have shown they are not up to the task. TEQSA is a regulator that is just missing in action. And meanwhile thousands of students, mostly young women but also young men, are facing utterly preventable sexual assault and rape on campus. Our universities should be places of learning, not rape factories. We need an independent taskforce urgently to oversight this and fix this problem. I'm so pleased that there's been a consensus recommendation for that by all political parties engaged in this inquiry. Don't wait for that panel; get on and do it.

There were a number of other really important recommendations made in this report. The harmonisation of consent the laws was chief amongst them. I want to commend the Attorney-General's Department, who already have quite a bit of work underway in this place and space. I acknowledge there's some work being undertaken by the Standing Council of Attorneys-General to look at the state of state and territory consent laws, and to consider harmonising them. This report has said, 'Good, get on and do that.' The Australian Law Reform Commission has also been charged with looking at the comparative treatment of consent laws and whether there's an affirmative consent model that actually requires an enthusiastic yes to be the definition of consent. The current situation in some of our states and territories is that you have a hideous defence called 'mistake of fact' where an alleged perpetrator can simply not check and carry on and then contend that they weren't told no, so there must have been consent.

Silence does not mean consent. Only enthusiastic and ongoing and an excited yes means yes. We're starting to see affirmative consent laws in some states and territories, and everybody should have the benefit of them nationally. We shouldn't have a patchwork of laws. It makes it more confusing for people to know what their rights are, and, moreover, it makes it really hard to design a national prevention campaign. The other recommendation of this seminal report is that we need respectful relationships education and a national campaign that starts in schools and goes right through to universities. Witnesses told us it is really difficult to design a national campaign when you have this patchwork of laws that sends a confusing message. It means that if you're going to schoolies across the border you've got a different set of laws that apply to you if you're sexually assaulted.

We already know there are far too many barriers for women coming forward to the justice system and to police when they're sexually assaulted. We should be removing as many of those barriers as possible. That's why it's crucial that one of the other recommendations is that we have more sensitive and trauma-informed approaches to sexual violence in the criminal justice system. We desperately need culture change in the police force. We desperately need culture change and proper trauma training for the judiciary. Again, I acknowledge the Attorney-General's Department has some work underway in that regard, which is really positive, but we've all seen the horror reports of the culture of policing, and women don't feel safe to disclose their sexual assaults, and they certainly don't feel like they will get access to justice when they do. We've got to fix that.

One of the recommendations of this report says, 'Let's think about possible other ways of providing justice to survivors of sexual violence.' It's a really interesting debate to have, and the witnesses were divided, because we want to make sure that survivors are making that choice as to how they choose to seek justice. If they don't want to have an adversarial process that should be their choice. Likewise, we don't want to send a message that rape is anything less than a criminal offence that is preventable, and we should not be allowing or permitting or sentencing less harshly than it deserves. So there are some really crucial conversations to be had in this space.

I do want to finish up by saying that we deal with a lot of sensitive issues in this place, and I would like to thank the other committee members and the secretariat for the grace with which this inquiry was conducted. I know the witnesses felt heard and supported, and that is so crucial, because it wasn't just those witnesses. Everybody listening to that was sent the message that they will be believed, that they will be fought for and that we will attempt to now fix the justice system and the legal system and the university sector to try to reduce the rates of sexual violence. That's a really honourable outcome, and I hope now that the government accepts this invitation to do those very things and importantly gets on and establishes this independent task force to oversight universities and the TEQSA regulator, in particular. We can do so much better.

I'm really proud of this report. We stand with survivors and thank you for your guts and your courage, and we will keep working to try and fix this system for all those who will be subjected to it in the future.

I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.