Grace Tame will attend Northern Territory Parliamentary Sittings today as the Government moves to further strengthen and modernise sexual offences legislation.
The Criminal Justice Legislation Amendment (Sexual Offences) Bill 2023 – to be debated today – aligns the NT with other Australian jurisdictions and follows recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (RCIRCSA).
Tame, a high profile advocate for survivors of sexual assault, has lobbied for changes to the legal description of child sexual abuse, which is a key feature of the NT amendments.
As part of these proposed changes, the offence of ‘sexual relationship with child’ will be replaced with ‘repeated sexual abuse’. This removes the connotation of a child’s complicity in sexual abuse, as the reference to ‘relationship’ implies.
The Bill also proposes:
a new offence of grooming a child with the intention of making it easier to procure the child to engage in sexual activity. This is to address preparatory conduct before any contact offending takes place;further offences to protect young people aged 16 or 17 from exploitation by persons in positions of authority, and persons with a cognitive impairment from exploitation by their carers;to stop child sex offenders from relying of evidence of good character during sentencing;a modification to the definition of consent to address the practice of stealthing; anda specific offence of public masturbation to make it easier to identify repeat offenders from their criminal history.
Quotes attributable to Attorney General and Minister for Justice Chansey Paech:
“The Territory Labor Government is reforming our criminal justice system and these changes will strengthen, and modernise our sexual offences laws.
“We are prioritising the safety and protection of children with the introduction of new and amended offences that reflect contemporary expectations.
“For example, we propose to change the offence of ‘sexual relationship with child’ to ‘repeated sexual abuse’ because the words we choose are important. Our children should not be portrayed as consensual in sexual abuse.
“These amendments are an important step forward to ensure our Territory laws better reflect the serious nature of this abuse.”
Quotes attributable to Grace Tame Foundation CEO Grace Tame:
“The Northern Territory Government is making significant reforms to its Criminal Code so that the criminal offence of repeated sexual abuse against a child will no longer be described as a ‘relationship’.
“Children often lack the words to understand and express what has happened to them because they are still developing socially and psychologically.
“These amendments will reflect the gravity of this criminal act committed against innocent, vulnerable child victims. Put simply, language matters.”
