Wednesday, 3 June 2026

 Sonja TERPSTRA (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (17:41): I rise to make a contribution on one of the most critical and comprehensive reviews of our legal framework of our time, the Victorian Law Reform Commission’s report Improving the Justice System Response to Sexual Offences, and this was tabled in this chamber in April 2022. When this report was handed down after an intensive 18-month inquiry, it did not just suggest minor tweaks to our legal system; it demanded fundamental and structural reforms. The inquiry itself was large. It involved 99 detailed consultations and examined 71 formal submissions, and the result was 91 recommendations designed to shift the justice system from a place of systemic trauma to a place of genuine accountability and healing.

The report breaks its 91 recommendations into several key areas. First, it targets the laws surrounding the acts themselves. The report champions a transition to a strict model of affirmative consent. This shifts the legal burden away from the outdated notion of ‘Did the victim say no?’ to a proactive requirement: what active steps did the accused take to ensure that consent was enthusiastically given? It also paved the way for stronger, clearer laws against stealthing – the non-consensual removal of a condom – and image-based abuse. Second, it targets the trial process itself. The Victorian Law Reform Commission explicitly stated that criminal trials must be made less traumatic. It called for better judicial directions to dismantle damaging rape myths in front of juries, and it demanded that the professionals handling these complex cases – the judges, magistrates and barristers – must be highly trained specialists in sexual violence. Third, the report recognises that a survivor’s journey does not just start or end in a courtroom. It emphasises that victims should never have to walk alone, and to solve this the commission recommended the introduction of dedicated victim advocates – professionals who walk alongside survivors every step of the legal pathway, providing legal advice, emotional support and counselling. Furthermore, the report looks beyond the justice system into our daily lives, calling for an enforceable duty on employers, universities and other institutions to actively eliminate sexual violence and harassment. To oversee this cultural and structural shift, it recommended a world-first institution, a dedicated commission for sexual safety. Finally, there was a recommendation that called for restorative justice. The commission boldly stated that the time had come for restorative justice and alternative pathways to become a mainstream option. For many survivors, a traditional criminal trial which focuses strictly on punishing a perpetrator does not provide closure. Restorative justice allows survivors to safely voice the true impact of the crime, demand accountability and seek healing on their own terms. In conclusion, the report is not just a legal document but a catalyst for cultural change.

Upon its release the Victorian government committed to a historic overhaul to implement these recommendations, including the affirmative consent model and the criminalisation of stealthing. In summary, the legislative reforms and statutory adjustments that were called for and have been acted upon include the affirmative consent model, which was the enactment of the Justice Legislation Amendment (Sexual Offences and Other Matters) Act 2022, which formally established a consent model in Victoria. The law explicitly clarifies that a person does not consent unless they say or do something to communicate that consent actively. It also criminalised stealthing, with the same legislative suite explicitly making stealthing, the non-consensual removal of a condom, illegal. Also, it dismantled rape myths and trial protections. Legislative amendments introduced strict limitations on how complainants’ sexual history can be cross-examined or used as evidence, effectively mitigating common defence tactics that rely on historical sexual behaviour to imply consent. It also revised judicial directions with the introduction of mandatory updated model jury instructions designed to explicitly counter widespread misconceptions regarding delayed reporting, lack of physical resistance or trauma-induced memory fragmentation.

There were structural and systemic initiatives as well, which included the legal and intermediary support frameworks; the state budget allocating targeted funding to roll out dedicated independent legal representatives and special legal support practitioners for victim-survivors; expansion of intermediaries; substantial expansions to the intermediary pilot program, which protects vulnerable witnesses and complainants such as children or people with cognitive impairments; specialised judicial and enforcement training; increased investment towards specialised training for Victoria Police, the Office of Public Prosecution and members of the judiciary to guarantee trauma-informed management of sexual offence proceedings; and progress, as I mentioned, on restorative justice. While full interrogation remains an ongoing project, the state incrementally increased funding for restorative justice frameworks and non-adversarial pilots, creating pathways for victim-driven healing metrics outside traditional streams. I commend the report to the house.