Consent laws to be passed in Queensland parliament ‘favour the perpetrator’

Advocates say new consent laws being pushed through Queensland parliament fail to protect women who have been sexually assaulted.

Women’s rights and rape advocates are demanding the Palaszczuk government pull consent laws from state parliament, arguing the new amendments fail to protect victims of sexual assault.

The new laws are due to be passed on Wednesday afternoon or Thursday, but more than a dozen advocacy groups have launched a last-ditch campaign for significant adjustments to be made.

Women’s Legal Service chief executive Angela Lynch said the amendments were “failing Queensland women and it’s a missed opportunity”.

“It’s following on from a Queensland Law Reform Commission report that failed to listen to survivors, failed to listen to rape and women advocates and pretty much only listened to the lawyers,” she told reporters on Wednesday.

She said amendments included “five benign recommendations that don’t go far enough” to ensure women’s safety.

“The laws and the system is weighted in favour of the perpetrator,” Ms Lynch said.

Angela Lynch said the new laws failed to protect women. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

The leading women’s rights advocate called on the legislation to be pulled and amended to include affirmative action, which she says will strengthen consent laws by more clearly identifying if a woman voluntarily took part in a sexual act or not.

She said a common response for a rape victim was to freeze during the attack, which she says could be interpreted as consent under the new law.

“You can’t assume that somebody who is frozen, someone who is unconscious, someone who just hasn’t said anything is enough,” she said.

“The woman doesn‘t believe she has consented, she’s actually frightened but often it can be argued in court to take it (the complaint) further.”

Ms Lynch said the “figures speak for themselves” in revealing how too many of those accused of sexual violence go unpunished.

“Possibly between 20,000 and 40,000 rapes occur in Queensland each year, around 6500 charges go to the police, and we have just around 300 convictions,” she said.

“Many victims do not come forward because of the trauma of the criminal justice system itself.”

The Attorney-General said the government would look into further changes after laws were passed. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman said the amendments were an “important step to modernise consent laws” but admitted more could be done.

She said the Palaszczuk government was open to amending the bill once it was passed but rejected the assertion that a frozen or silent victim could be viewed as providing consent, insisting the “law is making it clear that silence is not consent”.

“I understand that some stakeholders believe that our laws could have gone further, and our government is absolutely committed to looking at anything we can do to keep women safe and hold perpetrators to account,” Ms Fentiman said.

Originally published as Consent laws to be passed in Queensland parliament ‘favour the perpetrator’