SUBMISSION

ANROWS submission on the NSW Sexual Consent Reforms Review

ANROWS provided a submission in response to the NSW Department of Communities and Justice review of the Sexual Consent Reforms.

The review considers whether the current legislative framework, Crimes Legislation Amendment (Sexual Consent Reforms) Act 2021, provides clarity and certainty about consent, addresses misconceptions in legal processes, and is operating as intended in practice.

ANROWS supports the Department’s commitment to sustaining and refining the sexual consent reforms, including the use of a communicative and affirmative model of consent that reflects contemporary understandings of sexual autonomy.

However, the evidence indicates that legislation alone cannot achieve the intended outcomes while rape myths, victim-blaming attitudes and gender-inequitable norms remain prevalent in the community and within legal settings.

ANROWS welcomes the opportunity to contribute evidence to support the Department in refining the reforms so they more effectively advance justice, safety and accountability.

 

Submission recommendations:

Legislative amendments

Embed a domestic, family and sexual violence lens across the program’s vision, outcomes, funding decisions, service design and outcome measurement to ensure safety and prevention are central to reform.

• Ensure consent laws explicitly recognise coercive control as a circumstance where there is no consent

This includes amending the Crimes Act to add clear and relevant examples of coercive control, such as economic abuse, threats to reputation, migration status, and social or cultural pressures.

• Relocate “stealthing” from a legislative note and recognise it as a circumstance of non-consent

This would ensure consistency with reforms in other states and territories and improve clarity in the operation of consent laws.

Jury directions and court practice

These recommendations focus on how juries are guided and how consent issues are addressed during trials.

• Include jury directions that cover coercive control and economic dependence

This would improve clarity of the law, align NSW with national best practice, and better reflect victim-survivor experiences of coercive patterns over time.

• Make jury directions presumptively mandatory when consent is in dispute

These evidence-based directions (directions s 292A–292E) address common misconceptions about consent and complainant behaviour. Judges should be able to opt out only in exceptional cases and be required to give reasons.

• Require jury directions addressing flirtation, post-offence contact and trauma responses

Judges should give these directions at pretrial and as contextual guidance during trial when such issues are raised, to address persistent misconceptions about consent.

• Include a jury direction addressing the misconception that flirtatious or sexual behaviour implies consent

This responds to ongoing community misunderstandings about consent and sexual violence.

Implementation, policing and workforce capability

These recommendations focus on implementation, capability and decision-making across the justice system.

This submission will be of interest to policymakers, funders, service providers, researchers and advocates working across children, family wellbeing and domestic, family and sexual violence prevention and response.

• Develop and publish detailed investigative guidance for police

Guidance should direct police to focus on what the accused did to seek consent, rather than on the behaviour or credibility of the victim-survivor.

• Ensure ongoing trauma- and violence-informed training across agencies

All relevant agencies should provide training on communicative consent, with training programs subject to evaluation.

• Continue independent monitoring of police and prosecution decision-making

This includes external review of ‘no further action’ decisions in sexual offence matters.

• Support ongoing evaluation of specialist approaches to sexual assault proceedings

Continued evaluation is needed as more post-reform data becomes available.

 

This submission will be of interest to policymakers, legal and justice system professionals, researchers, advocates, and organisations working to strengthen consent laws and responses to sexual violence.

Download the full submission to explore the evidence and recommendations in detail.

 

 

Suggested citation

Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety. (2025).Re: Sexual Consent Reforms Review: An ANROWS submission to the NSW Department of Communities and Justice [Submission no. 3]. ANROWS.