ACT government to work on sexual assault reforms

The territory government has promised it will work to reboot a program focused on reforms to sexual assault laws, which are expected to progress throughout the parliamentary term.

Two people that will play a key role in progressing these reforms are ACT victims of crime commissioner Heidi Yates and Canberra Rape Crisis Centre chief executive Chrystina Stanford.

The Sexual Assault Reform Program began 15 years ago after a report from ACT Policing and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions that made 105 recommendations to reform the way sexual assault cases are handled by the territory's criminal justice system.

The program is aimed at improving processes and support for victims as they move through the system, attrition in sexual offence matters in the system and co-ordination between relevant agencies.

But the last time the program was evaluated was in 2012, and Ms Yates said momentum had fallen away as members of the program stopped meeting regularly.

As sexual assault dominates the national conversation, Ms Yates said it provided an ideal opportunity for the ACT to take action on reforms and bring new life to the program (she has called for reforms for years).

"As a small jurisdiction we have more opportunity than anywhere else in the country for ministers, government portfolios, non-government organisations and community to work together to put survivors at the centre of the work we're undertaking," she said.

But what both Ms Yates and Ms Stanford fear is what happens when sexual assault is no longer dominating headlines.

"Part of that is in respect for survivors coming out and speaking publicly; they take incredible risks and they live with the public impact of speaking about what's happened to them for a long time beyond the headline," Ms Stanford said.

"We need to find a way to be respectful of that in the actions that we then take because otherwise people come and tell their story and nothing happens.

"That's in some ways worse than sometimes what has happened to them. So I I feel really strongly that it's our contribution to paying respect to their disclosures."

Ms Yates said reforms were much needed to take into account changes in technology, which has changed the nature of sexual violence.

"Think about the extraordinary ways that the way sexual assault is perpetrated has changed since the ACT last looked at this issue - the online sharing of intimate images, the sexting, the distribution of pornography involving children," Ms Yates said.

"Our systems haven't caught up with the way sexual assault and sexual offences are being perpetrated. And also the increasing number of young people, in particular, whose lives are being affected by technology-facilitated sexual abuse."

There has also been a rise in sexual violence perpetrated by young people, Ms Stanford said.

She pointed to the fact that over the past five years the largest demographic of people using the services of the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre has been young women aged from 14 to 25, compared to 10 years ago when the largest demographic was women over 40.

"There's changing trends and increasing levels of violence perpetrated by people who are really, really young, and when you see that you're seeing cultural change in violence," Ms Stanford said

"But there's also a desperate need at that point to do something to intervene on it. We have better windows of opportunity to change behaviour if we intervene earlier."

Both Ms Yates and Ms Stanford said reforms need to go beyond the criminal justice system.

"We cannot continue to hold up the criminal justice system as the ideal justice response for survivors, because that is a promise we simply cannot fulfil," Ms Yates said.

Ms Stanford pointed to the fact very few people actually report matters to police.

"Unfortunately ... when governments and community try and focus on sexual assault it often points to a whole load of work that goes on in the criminal justice system or legal reform," she said.

"And whilst that's important, very few people who are sexually assaulted actually do report to police or go to court.

"If we keep focusing on one area of sexual assault, we're negating all of the other members in the community who might have different needs and wants and desires through reporting sexual assault.

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"Yes, law reform always needs to happen and the criminal justice system always needs to be a focus, but let's look at the rest of the community and how we can focus on on reducing the barriers they've got to reporting sexual assault."

ACT Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury said the coming reforms would focus on how to best support victim-survivors.

"Drawing on the past success of the Sexual Assault Reform Program, the ACT government plans to work with experts and stakeholders to help us identify and implement the best possible reforms to sexual assault processes," he said.

"This needs to be a whole-of-government response, and I will be working with my cabinet colleagues to progress this."

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