New consent laws come into effect in Queensland today. They include new penalties for secretly removing or tampering with a condom during sex, an act known as ‘stealthing’.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Well, these are a major overhaul of sexual violence laws here in Queensland.
00:07Now the changes have introduced a new affirmative consent model.
00:11What that means is that consent needs to not only be agreed upon, but it's also specifically
00:16outlined and clarified situations where consent cannot be provided, and that includes situations
00:21where there's intimidation, coercion and abuse.
00:25It's also criminalised the act of stealthing.
00:28That's where a person either removes or tampers with a condom during sexual activity.
00:33So the offence has now been explicitly recognised as rape, and that carries a maximum penalty
00:39of life imprisonment here in Queensland.
00:42But these new laws have effectively brought Queensland in line with other states and territories
00:46like Victoria, New South Wales, the ACT, South Australia and Tasmania, who all recognise
00:52stealthing as illegal.
00:54Now the reforms have taken place due to the 188 recommendations that were handed down
01:00by the Women's Safety and Justice Taskforce that delivered their landmark report nearly
01:06two years ago.
01:07So all recommendations have either been supported or supported in principle by the Queensland
01:12Government.
01:13It also comes as the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics has shown
01:17that Queensland and New South Wales have had the most increase in sexual assault reports
01:23and reported cases.
01:25So it's something that experts have welcomed in terms of the reforms and changes, but they
01:29say that there's still a bit of a wait and see as they're positively optimistic about
01:34how these new laws play out in the judiciary process.
01:37They also say that lots more needs to be done in the education space in terms of improving
01:42and reducing sexual violence here in Queensland.