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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-03-08 Daily Xml
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Stealthing

The Hon. J.E. HANSON (14:41): Happy International Women's Day, Mr President. My question is to the Attorney-General. Will the Attorney inform the council about the upcoming commencement of laws regarding the offence of stealthing and changes to the rules of evidence in sexual assault matters?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:42): I thank the honourable member for his question. I am pleased to advise that the Statutes Amendment (Stealthing and Consent) Act 2022 has taken effect as of today through a private member's bill passed through parliament at the end of last year. As members would recall, this bill was introduced by the Hon. Connie Bonaros from SA-Best and follows a very, very long campaign and advocacy from her on issues of consent generally but particularly as it relates to stealthing.

The legislation addresses several aspects of sexual consent laws, including clarifying ambiguity around the criminal offence of stealthing, the practice of deliberately and without consent removing a condom before or during sexual activity. These laws mean stealthing is explicitly an offence and it is importantly clarified in the law not just for possible prosecution but for the education and awareness that follows around the changes of laws, particularly laws to do with sexual consent.

Last year, I had the chance to meet with Chanel Contos, who is the founder of the Teach Us Consent campaign and has long been a staunch advocate for positive sex education in Australia, including raising awareness around stealthing. At the meeting I had last year with Chanel and her colleagues, they made it clear that, as well as making the law expressly clear, a critical part of this sort of legislation is to educate people on what stealthing actually is.

I am advised that only 3 per cent of a survey of 2,000 respondents of Australian youth in a study said that their school taught them about stealthing. In the same study, I am told that one in three women and one in five men who took part in this research at Monash University in 2018 said they had experience with stealthing and this needs to change.

The changes from this legislation will also see the enforced requirement of the disclosure of expert reports to the prosecution where expert evidence relates to specific topics that are dealt with in the Evidence Act and also there are further changes that come into effect as part of this legislation that will see the broadening of jury directions that must be given in cases involving sexual offence where consent is an issue and to allow for the admission of expert evidence to address certain misconceptions about non-consensual activity.

These changes are an important step in the consent laws in South Australia and in increasing awareness and education about what free and willing consent to sexual activity looks like. I would like again to place on the record my sincere thanks to the Hon. Connie Bonaros for her longstanding advocacy in this area. It was a privilege for the government to work with the Hon. Ms Bonaros, as we do regularly with crossbenchers to make positive change for the benefit of South Australians.

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