ACT sexual assault victim-survivors feel disrespected: report

A scathing report of the ACT's responses to sexual assault has been handed over to the government following an eight-month examination of the responses.

"Too often, the response by community, government agencies and the justice system in the ACT fails to meet survivors' needs for healing and justice and can be retraumatising rather than supportive," the report said.

"Survivors continue to report that the ACT's support and response framework is inadequate.

"Too often, this framework leaves individuals and their families feeling disbelieved, disrespected, and isolated. We can and must do better."

Twenty-four recommendations for reform were made as part of the report.

These included that the ACT government establish a consultation program with victim-survivors, better integration between response services, that reviews be undertaken of government-funded agencies that provide services related to sexual violence and improvements to cultural competency of workers in relation of specialist services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

It was also recommended that the ACT government should establish a 10-year strategy for the prevention of sexual violence which is aimed at changing attitudes and behaviours that perpetuate sexual violence.

ACT Minister for Women Yvette Berry described the report as "hard reading" and said showed a system and its sub-sectors which could be better reformed to support victims of sexual abuse. She said the report worse than expected.

"Honestly, warts and all, then you see it is probably worse than everybody thinks, it still remains a hidden issue," Ms Berry said.

Ms Berry said the reforms would be worked over an extended period, with the government expected to respond to the report early next year.

"The ACT is ready to take a good hard look at where the gaps are in preventing and responding to sexual violence," she said.

"[The report] tells a story of a system that is struggling to meet the needs and expectations of victims survivors, not through negligence, but rather because of the complexity of fully understanding and responding to sexual violence in our communities.

"It requires a co-ordinated cross-government response to ensure that we deliver on all of the necessary outcomes."

Earlier this year, the ACT government commissioned a steering committee and a series of working groups to examine the territory's responses to sexual assault prevention and response.

The committee and groups were established to co-ordinate the community, service sector, unions and stakeholders on responses to sexual assault in the ACT.

There were four working groups, each with a specific focus: sexual assault prevention, response, law reform and workplace issues. There was also an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander consultation committee.

The chair of the committee was the former head of the Commonwealth's Department of Human Services and chief executive of the Justice and Community Safety Directorate Renee Leon.

Ms Leon said the report recommended a wide range of reforms that would tackle the drivers of sexual violence to ensure survivors get the support they need.

She said long-term community education and lifelong education about relationships and sexuality would be a key part of this.

"I think, too often, we think that it's enough to just do short dip of the teenagers in consent education and that that will solve the problem," Ms Leon said.

"In fact, the poor attitudes that come up in the context of sexual violence are underpinned by attitudes about relationships, and sexuality that need to be changed in a much more fundamental way."

"And so we need to ensure that our education is directed not only to women, about how to cope with risk of sexual violence, but to boys and men about how to be good men, and how not to be the perpetrators of sexual violence."

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The views of victim survivors were sought as part of the review. This included a survey of 400 people from Women's Health Matters and 17 survivors also shared their experiences as part of the report.

"When listening to victim survivors it is clear that the system is failing them," the report said.

The report found that the "inadequacy of the system responses" was exacerbated by other marginalising factors, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, children and young people, people with disability and LGBTIQ+ people.

The report highlighted that survivors of sexual assault often don't report to police or pursue their matter through the courts due to failures in communication and being disrespected or disbelieved.

It said urgent work needed to be done to understand a drop in sexual assault prosecutions in the ACT, which has dropped by more than half over a five-year period.

There were 230 sexual offence trials in the ACT in the five years from 2010-11 to 2014-15. But in the following five years there were just 105 trials.

"There needs to be serious examination of reasons for the disturbingly low level of sexual assault prosecutions in the ACT including a cross-agency review of police decisions to discontinue investigations and to not refer matters for prosecution," the report said.

Canberra Rape Crisis Centre: (02) 6247 0900

Domestic Violence Crisis Service: (02) 6280 0900

Victim Support ACT (VSACT): 1800 8222 72 or (02) 6205 2022

Lifeline: 13 11 14

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