Accused rapists could be named ahead of trials

A new taskforce into sexual violence will explore whether it’s time for “change”, with Queensland remaining one of the last states to protect the identities of accused ­rapists until the case has ­progressed through court.

The head of the Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce has agreed that it “may be time for a change”, with Queensland one of the last remaining states to protect the identities of accused ­rapists until the case has ­progressed through court.

The issue will be one of many explored by the taskforce, led by former Court of Appeal president Margaret McMurdo, as it calls for women to submit their “lived experiences” on a range of issues around sexual violence.

It comes after the taskforce last year released its report Hear Her Voice, which examined women and girls’ encounters with domestic ­violence. The report recommended the criminalisation of coercive control.

The taskforce will now begin working towards its final report analysing the ­experiences of women and girls who are survivors of ­sexual assault and rape.

The taskforce will also look at the experiences of women who have come into contact with the justice ­system as people accused or convicted of a crime.

Ms McMurdo said 87 per cent of women sexually assaulted in Australia did not report it.

One in eight Australians think a woman raped while affected by drugs or alcohol was at least partly to blame for the attack, while two in five people agreed women made sexual assault allegations “to get back at men”.

Court of Appeal president Margaret McMurdo.

Ms McMurdo said such community attitudes would certainly play a role in women not coming forward to report sexual assaults.

“We’ve got to do a lot ­better job of making sure the community understands the law as it exists,” Ms McMurdo said.

“They don’t get it. They don’t understand.

“In the first lot of submissions we had on coercive control, time and time again we heard from people that they didn’t understand you could have rape within marriage, or rape within long-term relationships,” she said.

Ms McMurdo said she wouldn’t be forming a view on the issue of protecting the identity of an accused rapist until the taskforce had reviewed the submissions.

Queensland and Northern Territory are the only remaining jurisdictions that give such protections, with South Australian Attorney-General Vicki Chapman describing them as “outdated”.

“One of the concerns obviously about it is that it puts those accused of sexual offences in a different category to those accused of other offences,” Ms McMurdo said.

“Some would argue that by doing this, you are really perpetrating the rape myth that women make up complaints of rape and they’ve got to check, not let it go public until the evidence is tested a little bit.

“But really, why shouldn’t we do that for all offences?

“It may be time for a change, but let’s see what the submissions on that say.”

Ms McMurdo said the submissions they received from the public would “inform the work we do”, but she said it was very likely the ­debate around affirmative consent would be raised.

NSW will bring in affirmative consent laws later this year, and this will mean that both parties will need to ­communicate their consent before sexual activity – otherwise the law says they have not consented. “I would think it probably very likely it will be raised because it’s something of concern to advocates in this field,” she said.

Ms McMurdo said that while they received hundreds of submissions on issues surrounding domestic violence, she understood that women were reluctant to speak out about sexual assault.

“We have kept it very ­secret for a long time and not talked about it … we haven’t really wanted to face the scourge of sexual assault in our community,” she said.

Submissions open on Tuesday with the release of the taskforce’s latest discussion paper.

You can make a submission at www.womenstaskforce.qld.gov.au until April 8.