New laws protect children aged 16 and 17 from sexual interactions with adults

• Laws passed to introduce ‘Position of Authority’ offences, to protect children aged 16 or 17 from sexual interactions with adults in a position of authority.
• Further protections for victim-survivors of domestic, family and sexual violence in the court process.
• Criminal Code amended to clarify scope of strangulation offence.
  
  

Children aged 16 or 17 will be better protected from sexual interactions with adults who have them under their care, supervision or authority under laws passed by the Miles Government.

The new laws are part of a broader suite of reforms that also improve the criminal justice system’s response to victim-survivors of sexual, domestic and family violence.

A new ‘Position of Authority’ offence will criminalise adults in positions, like teachers or health professions, who have sexual interactions with children 16 and 17 years of age.

Under the Criminal Justice Legislation (Sexual Violence and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2024, offenders convicted of this offence will face a maximum penalty of 14 years’ imprisonment.

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

The maximum penalty for the expanded offence will be life imprisonment.

In addition, the Bill will improve protections for victims of sexual, domestic and family violence when they give evidence in court.

Special witnesses in sexual violence or domestic and family violence criminal proceedings, such as children, people with a mental, intellectual or physical impairment, or victim-survivors of domestic or sexual violence, will have a presumption in favour of alternative arrangements for giving evidence, such as:

• pre-recording their evidence
• having a support person
• giving evidence in a different room to the defendant.
  
  

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

Expert evidence will now be allowed in criminal sexual offence trials to dispel myths about how victims might be expected to behave at the time of, or after, an alleged offence.

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 certain places, will be extended from two to five years.

The Bill also moves amendments to clarify the strangulation offence to ensure perpetrators are held to account.

This follows a Queensland Court of Appeal decision which left uncertainty as to whether the offence extends to the compression of a person’s neck in a manner that does not hinder breathing but does restrict or cut off blood flow.

The government’s amendments remove any doubt, to clarify that to choke, suffocate or strangle another person includes the application of pressure to that person’s neck that completely or partially restricts the other person’s respiration, blood circulation, or both.

The maximum penalty for the strangulation offence is seven years’ imprisonment.

The Bill also 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 begin.

Quotes attributable to the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Yvette D’Ath:

“We place an immense amount of trust in adults who have children under their care, supervision or authority.

“The new offences will criminalise adults in this position of trust who engage in sexual interactions with 16- or 17-year-old children.

“The offences will bring Queensland into line with other States and Territories and send a clear message that this conduct will not be tolerated.

“Furthermore, we have improved protections for victim-survivors of domestic, family and sexual violence when giving evidence in court.

“Victim-survivors have a fundamental role in bringing perpetrators to justice and reducing future harm to the community, despite the harm that they have experienced, and it is vital that they are supported in this difficult task.

“The Bill aims to improve a victim-survivor’s experience of a criminal proceeding, assisting them to give their best evidence and reducing re-traumatisation.

“The Bill delivers the third, and final, major stage of reform by this Government in response to the Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce

“The Miles Government has also amended the Criminal Code to clarify that to choke, suffocate or strangle another person includes the application of pressure to that person’s neck that completely or partially restricts the other person’s respiration, blood circulation, or both.

“Non-fatal strangulation in a domestic and family violence relationship is an indicator that a person is at much higher risk of more serious violence or homicide at the hands of a current or former intimate partner.

“Collectively, these reforms are the most significant legislative changes to respond to domestic, family, and sexual violence in Queensland’s history.

“The Queensland Government is committed to making the necessary changes to end all forms of domestic, family and sexual violence in this State.”

Quotes attributable to Red Rose Foundation Founding Director, Betty Taylor AM:

 "The Red Rose Foundation welcomes legislative changes that include a clearer definition of strangulation and ensures the legal definition of strangulation is somewhat closer to a medical definition.

“Strangulation is well recognised as a significant red flag to serious harm including strokes and brain injury and tragically in some instances death, which may occur months after the strangulation assault." 

ENDS