Victoria introduces new bill protecting sexual assault victims

Victoria introduces new bill protecting sexual assault victims from further trauma in court

Victoria

Victims of sexual assault, stalking and family violence in Victoria will be better protected under new laws that will prevent lawyers from cross-examining them during committal hearings.

The laws were introduced to Parliament on Tuesday by the Allan Labor Government, and they’ve been welcomed by advocates who expect this will help prevent traumatic cross-examinations. 

The Justice Legislation Amendment (Committals) Bill 2024 will strengthen the test for cross-examination, meaning victims will only undergo cross-examination when their case goes to trial. They could still give evidence and be questioned on it by prosecutors during committals, however.

This will significantly reduce the amount of pre-trial evidence given by all victims and witnesses, ensuring only questioning that’s essential to resolve matters earlier is permitted. 

The new laws will also prevent child victims, witnesses and those with cognitive impairments from having to testify multiple times in family violence cases. They’ll be allowed to give pre-recorded video evidence, as is already done in sexual offence proceedings. 

And the government has said the new laws would allow homicide cases to be heard more quickly as adults would not have to be physically transported to court for committal proceedings.

“Survivors of sexual offences, stalking and family violence deserve justice, not further trauma,” said Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes. 

“These reforms will ease the burden of repeated testimony, helping them move through court proceedings and get on with their lives.”

“Committal proceedings have evolved over time and need updating- that’s why we’re modernising them by streamlining processes and removing the committal test,” said Symes.

The “test for committal” is the process where a magistrate decides whether evidence in a case is strong enough to send a person charged with a serious crime for trial in a higher court. 

Despite a recommendation by the Victorian Law Reform Commission (VLRC) in its 2020 Committals report, the government will not abolish all tests for committal. The VLRC had said that even though the rationale for the process was sound, it was unnecessary.

Each year, approximately 3000 criminal cases go through some form of committal proceeding, but the VLRC states that “while the rationale for applying a committal test is sound—to provide independent scrutiny of an indictable prosecution—requiring it in all indictable stream matters is unnecessary; therefore the test should be abolished.”

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