Good morning. New laws to be introduced by Victoria’s attorney general will add two new sexual offences to the statute book and impose a responsibility for consent to be given before engaging in sexual activity. And after months of wrangling, Labor’s climate bill is finally set to pass.
Laws to require affirmative consent, criminalise “stealthing” and target “deepfake” porn will be introduced into the Victorian parliament by the state’s attorney general, Jaclyn Symes. The justice legislation amendment (sexual offences and other matters) bill 2022 will be introduced to parliament today and, if passed, will impose a responsibility for consent to be given before engaging in sexual activity from June 2023. Symes said the affirmative consent model would shift scrutiny in sexual assault matters away from the actions of the victim and on to those of the accused offender. “We want to make sure that women, in particular, are able to come forward and report crime and not feel shamed and have the spotlight put on them and what they did or didn’t do,” she told Guardian Australia.
