Qld politics: A-G moves to axe character references for sex offenders

Attorney-General Deb Frecklington has drawn on personal experience as she cracks down on “good bloke” defences.

Attorney-General Deb Frecklington in Question Time on Tuesday. Picture: Dan Peled/NCA NewsWire

The opinions of friends and family of accused rapists will be given less weight in court under major new reforms for sexual assault sentencing in Queensland.

In a surprise announcement in Parliament on Tuesday, Attorney-General Deb Frecklington tabled urgent reforms to sentencing and penalties for sexual offences.

It follows pressure from the Opposition to implement the recommendations of a report on rape and sexual assault by the Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council.

Of the report’s 28 recommendations, four were classed as urgent and will be sent for committee consultation before coming into effect.

Under the changes, judges will be able to class sexual assaults of children ages 16 and 17 as aggravated assault, attracting higher penalties.

Harm to the victim will become an explicit sentencing consideration and the absence of a victim impact statement will not be used to imply a lack of harm.

Courts will also have restricted treatment of certain good character evidence when sentencing offenders convicted of sexual offences of a sexual nature, meaning mates of accused rapists and sex offenders will not be able to offer kinds words to help them garner lower sentences.

“This is something that is very close to my heart,” Ms Frecklington said.

Shadow attorney-general Meaghan Scanlon. Picture: Annette Dew

“Because one of the last criminal matters that I was ever involved in went to exactly this point, a former school principal, a man who was Citizen of the Year of the community of which I represent.

“People that had to sit in a court and be subjected to hearing about supposed good character of a former deputy school principal and what he did to children.”

In its February report the Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council found 92 per cent of the 131 District Court rape cases in the 12 months to June 2023 relied on a good character evidence.

Council chair Ann Lyons said at the time the report was the result of a 19-month investigation that found Queensland’s current sentencing practises did not align with community expectations.

Shadow attorney-general Meaghan Scanlon said the government had been sitting on the report since December and the surprise tabling of reforms was a win for victim survivors of rape and sexual assaults in Queensland.

“The report made it obvious that it was not right that perpetrators continuously received lighter sentences for horrific sexual violence because they claimed to be good blokes,” she said.

“These new laws will empower victim-survivors and ensure that perpetrators are held accountable.”

Originally published as Qld politics: A-G moves to axe character references for sex offenders