ACT government to change name of 'sexual relationship with a child' crime

ACT Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury will propose the change as part of a bill which will put forward a raft of reforms to strengthen family violence laws in the territory.

Ms Tame, the 2021 Australian of the Year, has repeatedly called for states and territories to make the change, saying that the wording does not reflect the gravity of the crime.

The ACT is one of four jurisdictions where the crime is called either "maintaining" or "engaging" in a sexual relationship. The other jurisdictions are South Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Mr Rattenbury said the change was prompted after Ms Tame addressed the national meeting of attorneys-general in November, where she called for national consistency.

"This for me is a direct result of Grace Tame," Mr Rattenbury said.

"Grace, very powerfully made the point that a relationship sounds like something that's consented to, it normalises it... she talks very strongly about the fact it diminishes the true nature of the offence."

The Family Violence Legislation Amendment Bill will be introduced to the Legislative Assembly on Thursday.

The bill would make family and domestic violence aggravating offences, this would give the court the ability to give a more severe penalty for offences conducted in a family violence context.

"The aggravated factor is to recognise that essentially, domestic violence occurs in the context of a trusting relationship," Mr Rattenbury said.

"Therefore, there is an element that says as an Assembly, as a community, we're saying that there's scope for a higher penalty if the court sees fit."

It would also make changes that counselling notes for family violence victims can no longer be used as evidence, as is the case in sexual assault trials.

"That's about making sure that disclosures made by family violence victims during the counselling process remain confidential," Mr Rattenbury said.

"It encourages people to have more confidence in seeking support, getting counselling [and] helping to process their grief and trauma.

"Confident that it won't be dragged out to embarrass them, or, frankly, freak them out during a subsequent court matter."

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Under the proposed changes, the court would have to grant an adjournment for a reasonable period for the preparation of a victim impact statement, upon prosecution request.

Cross-examination of victim impact statements would also be prohibited unless the court can be satisified it has "substantial probative value".

Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee released an exposure draft bill last year which made family violence an aggravating offence. Mr Rattenbury said there were a range of technical issues that needed to be worked through before the government could make the changes.

Labor backbencher Marisa Paterson introduced a bill to bring an affirmative model of consent into ACT law on Tuesday afternoon.

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