Abuse, sexual harassment, and the topic of consent has been dominating headlines in recent weeks, with allegations emerging about the behaviour of high-profile footballers, politicians, and political staffers.
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Closer to home, Wagga statistics have showed a whopping 71.2 per cent increase in sexual assault reports in the 24 months leading up to December of 2020.
Wagga Women's Health Centre's Julie Mecham said there remained harmful misunderstandings about consent, both in the Wagga community as well as in the highest echelons of Australian government.
"How do women in our community feel safe when that sort of thing is going on at the highest levels, where decisions are being made about women's equality across all sectors of society?" she said.
"I struggle to find the right words of how disgusted I am."
Walsh & Blair Lawyers associate Morgan Jones has dealt with many rape and sexual offence cases in Wagga, and he says the laws surrounding consent has changed drastically since reforms came in 2008.
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In his personal opinion, Mr Jones says the new laws strike a good balance, saying the previous laws made it very difficult to convict a perpetrator.
"In the past if an accused person had an honest belief, although mistaken, that the person was consenting, that person had a complete defence," Mr Jones said.
"It didn't matter how unreasonable that belief was, so long as it was honestly held the person was not guilty of the offense."
What is consent?
Sexual consent must be explicit, which means it cannot be assumed or believed to be a given.
Consent must be given freely and without coercion, which means that people must not feel pressured or obliged into agreeing to something reluctantly.
The person has to be in possession of their full faculties, which means they cannot be drunk, addled by drugs, or similarly incapacitated. This was not always the case, only becoming law in Australia in 2008.
Consent it specific. Just because a person consents to one form of sexual activity, it doesn't mean they've agreed to all forms of sexual activity.
What isn't consent?
Consent is not one-off. It can be withdrawn at any time, even if two people have had sex in the past.
Revealing clothing is not an invitation and does not equal consent, Ms Mecham says, contrary to what many people continue to say by way of justification.
"A victim is not to blame for a perpetrator's abuse," Ms Mecham said.
"We need to be very very clear; it doesn't matter what you wear, it doesn't matter if you're drinking, it doesn't matter if you're alone, it doesn't matter if you're out after midnight."
Consent must be given for pregnancy, which Ms Mecham says is a rarely-discussed but depressingly common issue that she sees with her clients.
She sees it come in many forms, including men agreeing to use contraception and then reneging on their promise, pressuring women not to undergo abortion, sabotaging condoms, or other forms of deception to make women pregnant.
The topic is so seldom discussed that Ms Mecham says that some women are not even aware they have been made victims of abuse when it happens.
"Perpetrators seem to do this quite early in relationships because it ties a person to that perpetrator indefinitely," she said.
"It's just starting to be spoken about and recognised as a form of abusive behaviour."
What should be done?
Some, like Mr Jones, believe the current laws strike the right balance between the accuser and the accused.
Others, like Riverina Greens member Jenny McKinnon, believe the laws do not go far enough. She is currently advocating for the Enthusiastic Consent Bill recently put before parliament by the Greens NSW.
She believes the time is right to revisit these laws, saying that the recent scandals in parliament are a good sign that more women are willing to stand up for themselves.
"I think it's a really good thing. It feels like we're moving forward and addressing some of the institutional misogyny and discrimination against women," she said.
"What we're looking for is unequivocal, enthusiastic consent that a person wants to go ahead with a sexual act, and if we don't have that it just shouldn't go ahead."
Other proposed solutions include a consent app, as proposed by the NSW Police Commissioner.
However lawyer Fahim Khan, who has worked with Wagga Aboriginal legal services, says that such an idea has legal problems.
"One of the basis for that [app] is it becomes easier for someone to say there was in fact consent, however that's not a conclusive sign because consent can be revoked at any point," Mr Khan said.
"The major difficulty in preparing to defend such allegations is what can be gathered to corroborate the defendants version of events to establish there was in fact consent."
Mr Khan said consent laws have changed significantly over the years, with the burden of proof shifting gradually from the victim to the defendant.
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