Tuesday, 29 July 2025

Gendered violence

Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (18:56): (1761) I rise to direct an adjournment matter to the Attorney-General. The action I seek is for the government to provide a timeline for a response to the Australian Law Reform Commission’s final report Safe, Informed, Supported: Reforming Justice Responses to Sexual Violence,released in January 2025. This comprehensive national report followed years of advocacy from survivors, experts and legal professionals and calls for systemic reform of how our justice system responds to sexual violence. Too often the current system leaves survivors feeling alone, invisible and as if they are the ones on trial. This final report has 64 comprehensive recommendations, and the majority of the recommendations specifically require action from each state and territory government. The ALRC’s work was commissioned by the Commonwealth but engaged closely with state and territory justice systems, including Victoria’s, which hold responsibility for criminal law and court procedure. Many of the recommendations therefore depend on state implementation.

Key proposals include but are not limited to the following: establishing safe, informed, supported entry points for victim-survivors, including frontline trauma-informed sexual assault service providers connected to legal advice; ensuring earlier legal assistance for complainants, including access to independent legal advice before giving evidence; increased use of prerecorded evidence and ensuring flexible options for how victim-survivors appear in court; embedding trauma-informed expert testimony to address myths and misconceptions and improve jury directions and judicial training accordingly; and exploring restorative justice pathways for survivors post investigation, discontinuation, plea or sentencing.

This report is a landmark opportunity to restore faith in the system and centre the experience of those most harmed by it. The government has not yet indicated when it will respond to the ALRC’s final recommendations and invest in the specialist sexual assault and legal services that are needed. My Greens colleagues and I have had a number of constituents contact us, keen for these important reforms to be accepted and implemented in Victoria. Attorney, I ask that you provide a timeline for when the government will respond to the state-based recommendations in the ALRC’s Safe, Informed, Supported report and whether it intends to act on its recommendations in full.