New laws to improve justice system response to domestic, family and sexual violence

• New criminal offence to protect young people from sexual interactions with adults who have a child aged 16 or 17 under their care, supervision or authority.
• Proposed reforms strengthen protections for victim-survivors of domestic, family and sexual violence in the court process.
• The legislative amendments respond to Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce recommendations.

New laws to protect children and to improve how courts deal with sexual, domestic and family violence matters have been introduced in Parliament by the Miles Government today.

The legislation creates the new ‘Position of Authority Offence’ to protect children aged 16 or 17, from sexual interactions with adults who have them under their care, supervision or authority, such as teachers and health practitioners, with offenders to face a maximum penalty of 14 years imprisonment.

The reforms also extend an existing offence of ‘Repeated Sexual Conduct with a Child’ to include adults in positions of care, supervision or authority who engage in unlawful sexual behaviour with children who are 16 or 17 years of age.

The Criminal Justice Legislation (Sexual Violence and Other Matters Amendment Bill) 2024 will also improve the court experience for victim-survivors of sexual, domestic and family violence, when they give evidence in court.

Proposed changes would allow for expert evidence to be given in criminal sexual offence trials to dispel myths about how victim-survivors might be expected to behave at the time of or after the offence has been committed.

Special witnesses in sexual violence or domestic and family violence criminal proceedings, such as children, people who have a mental, intellectual or physical impairment, or victim-survivors of domestic or sexual violence, will have a presumption in favour of measures such as pre-recording their evidence, having a support person or giving evidence in a different room to the defendant.

Rules about the admission of evidence in criminal trials revealing a person’s tendency to act in a particular way or to have a particular state of mind, or showing their prior involvement in similar events, will be aligned with other states and territories.

The maximum duration of non-contact orders, made by a court during sentencing, requiring an offender not to contact a victim or another person or not to go to particular places, would be extended from two to five years.

The Bill implements the third major tranche of legislative amendments in response to the recommendations of the Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce’s two Hear her voice reports.

It also requires that a review of the operation and effectiveness of certain laws introduced in response to Taskforce recommendations be conducted five years after the laws commence.

Quotes attributable to Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Yvette D’Ath:

“We know that most sexual abusers are known to their victims and, due to their age, children and young people can be particularly vulnerable.

“Some people in positions of care, supervision or authority may exploit that vulnerability, taking advantage of the power imbalance to prey on young people and keep them silent.

“While Queensland’s legal age of consent is 16, these new laws will provide added protection to help protect children aged 16 and 17 who are under the care, supervision or authority of others.

“We have heard the many voices of women and girls who told the Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce about their experiences of the criminal justice system and we have acted.

“We need to ensure that victim-survivors of domestic, family and sexual violence are not further traumatised by going through the legal process.

“The reforms will improve the court experience of victim-survivors and reduce the risk of causing them further harm.

“In addition, extending the maximum length of non-contact orders from two to five years means our courts can treat offending seriously and make orders to help keep people safe.

“This Bill is part of our ongoing commitment to address domestic, family and sexual violence and support and protect victim-survivors.”

ENDS