2021 Criminal Law CPD Series:

A Reasonable Balance: The NSW and Queensland Law Reform Commissions’ Reports about Consent and Culpability in Sex Cases involving Adults

SUBSTANTIVE LAW
CPD Points: 1.5

**ON DEMAND RECORDINGS OF THE 2021 SERIES ARE AVAILABLE HERE**

In response to public concern about the operation of the law relating to offences such as rape and sexual assault, the New South Wales and Queensland governments have recently required their respective law reform commissions to consider whether Parliament should make reforms in this area. But, last year, each Commission issued a Report in which it advocated only relatively modest changes to the status quo.

Crucially, both bodies rejected proposals that, if they were to be enacted, would make it impossible, or at least practically impossible, for a person accused of such offending to rely successfully on honest and reasonable mistake of fact. While this has drawn a negative response from some quarters, it is argued in this webinar that each Commission was clearly correct to maintain a culpability requirement for the very serious offences with which it was concerned. This is not to say that the Commissions’ proposals should be accepted in their entirety. Indeed, it will also be argued that each has taken an erroneous approach to the issues of consent, withdrawal of consent and fraudulently induced sexual activity. Rather, this seminar suggests that the law reform commission recommendations, if adopted, will nevertheless preserve a reasonable balance between the interests of the complainant and those of the accused.