Page 1211 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 11 April 2018
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home—that is in 40 per cent of cases—or the perpetrator’s home, in 17 per cent of cases. Sadly, the majority of women—87 per cent—did not contact the police.
These are shocking figures. That as recently as last year only one person out of every 10 who experienced sexual violence sought help from the police is appalling. It just shows how mistakenly naive and accepting we as a society are of what happens behind closed doors and in other people’s homes.
When I was younger there was a major campaign to say that “No means no” as far as consent goes. Of course, it still does. It may seem crazy to some younger people, but that actually has not always been a widely understood concept. Arguably, as the statistics show for sexual violence, it still is not for some people.
Arguably, we have come some way since that time. One advancement, of course, is that marital rape is no longer a legal defence. This is a critical step in addressing what we know is the most prevalent form of sexual assault—intimate partner sexual violence. As the statistics I cited before show, victims of sexual assault are more likely to be assaulted by someone they know in their house or the home of the perpetrator.
Compounding this risk is the risk of vulnerable groups of women. One example is that women with disabilities are between four and 10 times more likely to have experienced sexual assault than non-disabled women. As put forward by the submission from Women with Disabilities ACT:
The very nature of disability means that women with disabilities will always experience a power imbalance in relation to the perpetrator and … this power imbalance extends into justice itself if they make a disclosure.
On a positive note, I am pleased to say this submission notes that the bill supports the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, article 16, freedom from violence, exploitation and abuse, and that the proposed changes would lead to better legal outcomes and protection of women with disabilities from sexual exploitation and abuse.
The evidence from the many attendees at the recent Domestic Violence Prevention Council extraordinary meeting, which was attended by my staff and many others—I was unfortunately away on committee business—is that we have turned a corner in acknowledging and addressing domestic violence in public discourse. This is, in turn, encouraging these victims to speak out.
Two very impressive women spoke at that meeting about their personal studies and struggles to overcome abuse. There is still much to be done. It is too difficult for many of us to contemplate, let alone even acknowledge or speak about in many cases. The #MeToo movement and End Rape on Campus Australia, which are looking into this issue, are demonstrating that as a community we can, in fact, acknowledge and talk about these issues.
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