Forum to push nationwide approach on coercive control and sexual assault

Women and children’s safety will be a priority when Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus gathers state and territory counterparts to discuss improving responses to coercive control and sexual assault.

Queensland is moving to criminalise coercive control after the murder of Hannah Clarke and her three children in 2020.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has put nationalising the approach to coercive control and strengthening criminal justice responses to sexual assault on the agenda for the first meeting with his state and territory counterparts.

Mr Dreyfus will convene the in-person meeting on Friday, which will also include New Zealand’s Minister for Justice Kiri Allan, and said he would discuss how to improve “standards of integrity, access to justice and transparency in our nation” as well as addressing justice responses to sexual assault.

“This meeting has a comprehensive agenda, including important matters such as national approaches to coercive control, and strengthening criminal justice responses to sexual assault,” he said.

“Our many shared issues will require close collaboration and I intend that we will meet more regularly to drive co-ordinated, national responses to issues concerning justice, legal systems, integrity and the safety of women and children.”

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus says the meeting will discuss national approaches to coercive control and strengthening criminal justice responses to sexual assault. Picture: AAP

It comes as Queensland moves to criminalise coercive control after the murder of Hannah Clarke and her three children in 2020, which prompted calls for coercive control to be recognised as a precursor to physical violence.

Coercive control refers to a pattern of behaviour where a perpetrator isolates a victim from friends and family, and often cuts off their access to finances in an effort to limit their independence and freedom.

Attorney-generals heard from Australian of the Year and women's advocate Grace Tame at their last meeting in November, in which Ms Tame stressed the importance of national consistency regarding “persistent sexual abuse of a child”, legislation relating to the age of consent, and the definition of “sexual intercourse”.

Since the last meeting of attorney-generals, states have moved to legislate against sexual assault and harassment in a variety of ways including putting in place consent laws and criminalising coercive control and stealthing.

Stealthing refers to the nonconsensual removal of a condom during intercourse, with ACT becoming the first jurisdiction to make the act explicitly illegal last year, followed by Tasmania. The Victorian government last week indicated it would attempt to pass laws that would also criminalise stealthing and enshrine affirmative consent, which sets a higher bar for what constitutes as consent.

Mr Dreyfus will on Friday discuss existing laws around sexual assault and how to harmonise them and make access to justice easier for victims across the country.

Director of the Australian Institute’s Centre for Sex and Gender Equality, Chanel Contos, said it was clear “momentum is building” for laws to match community expectations around consent and respectful relationships.

“There is genuine interest and a desire to make change in this space,” she told The Australian.

“This is a domino effect that other states can follow and there needs to be unity between laws in all states. I’m hoping the federal Attorney-General will use his position to make a serious impact.”

Full Stop chief executive Hayley Foster said she hoped moves by states such as Victoria last week would “set the tone across the country” and there should be a national task force to see uniform consistency between laws.

“It’s important we have these laws that set expectations for respectful relationships in this country … but it’s also not enough on its own,” she said.

“We need to make sure sexual assault services are available. We must make it safer and more trauma informed and we must make it easier for people to attain justice because only 1.5 per cent of sexual assaults in this country result in a conviction.”