Incidents of Sexual Assaults
Reverend the Hon. Dr GORDON MOYES: I ask the Minister for Commerce, representing the Attorney General, a question without notice. Is the Minister aware that according to the New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research there were recorded 4,016 incidents of sexual assault in New South Wales last year? Is the Minister aware that only 15 per cent of sexual offences against a child and 19 per cent of sexual offences against an adult have resulted in the commencement of criminal proceedings in New South Wales and that the prosecution rates for these proceedings are very low? Is the Minister aware that according to Dr Don Weatherburn low prosecution rates are due to reluctance on the victim’s part to undergo the trauma of court proceedings? Is the Minister aware that a child sexual assault expert, Dr Caroline Taylor, is of the view that a specialised court system would more ably deal with sexual assault offences? Will the Minister consider introducing a specialised court system to prosecute child sexual offenders in particular?
The Hon. JOHN DELLA BOSCA: The answer to the first part of the honourable member’s question is that I was aware that that is the approximate number of sexual assaults, but I was not aware of the proportion that went to prosecution. For a long time there has been general concern in the community that the rate of successful prosecutions for sexual assaults of various kinds, especially those against children, appears to be relatively low compared with the apparent number of offences. I think that is observed generally across the jurisdictions. I was not specifically aware of the observations of Dr Don Weatherburn, although I regard him as an authoritative person on criminal studies and statistics about criminal behaviour and law and justice matters. In terms of the opinion of Dr Caroline Taylor in relation to the possibility of a specialised jurisdiction to handle these matters, I think Reverend the Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes said it related only to child sexual assault matters. I am happy to seek a prompt reply from the Attorney General and provide it to the House.
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The Hon. BOB DEBUS: In December 2004 I established the Criminal Justice Sexual Offences Taskforce to examine issues surrounding sexual assault in the community and the prosecution of these matters. It was one of the most comprehensive reviews of the law in this area in the last 20 years.
The Taskforce was particularly concerned with the high rates of attrition in sexual assault cases and examined the experience of other jurisdictions including those who use a specialised court system.
The Taskforce concluded that “specialised or specialist courts are not a magic panacea” and did not recommend the introduction of a specialist court. They did however recommend a comprehensive change to the management and administration of courts in order to give rise to a specialised scheme to deal with sexual assault cases more effectively. This included sexual assault matters being subject to a call-over and specialised case management hearings and for courts, equipped with the appropriate technology, to be set aside and available for hearing sexual assault matters. This recommendation is currently being considered by an Advisory Panel chaired by my Department.
