VLRC in the media

For media comment by the VLRC, please contact Nick Gadd on 0425 862 119 or email nick.gadd@lawreform.vic.gov.au. A selection of recent coverage appears below.

18 September 2023: ‘Intermediaries help people with cognitive impairments give evidence to police and in court. But many miss out’, ABC News online. The VLRC has recommended that intermediaries should be available in criminal trials to assist the accused, anyone with communication difficulties, and in courts across the state.

31 July 2023: ‘Deaf and blind Australians call out jury service exclusion’ SBS World News

30 May 2023: ‘Overcoming obstacles for deaf & blind jurors’, The Law Report, ABC Radio National. Interview with Emma Cashen, community law reform manager of the VLRC. Read a transcript.

16 May 2023: ‘Remove barriers to jurors with disability’, Vic told, AAP, The Standard

8 April 2023: ‘Deaf Australians and those with disabilities push to end exclusion from juries’ ABC News Online and TV news segment ABC News (Australia)

1 April 2023: ‘He texted Holly that he’d done ‘the most heinous thing possible’. A jury disagreed.’
Sexual assault complaints have skyrocketed in recent years, but convictions remain low and the legal process is brutal for complainants. Many argue it’s time for an entire rethink, Good Weekend magazine

6 March 2023: ‘Survivors of sexual abuse and victims’ families raise concerns over dealings with Victoria’s state prosecutors’, ABC News Online

3 December 2022: ‘Push for ‘victim advocates’ to support alleged rape survivors in court following Bruce Lehrmann trial’, The Guardian

3 October 2022: ‘Accused stalkers would be banned from cross-examining victims under proposed overhaul’, The Herald-Sun

5 September 2022: Shortage of doctors causing victims of violent crime to wait for forensic examinations, 7.30 Report, ABC News

31 August 2022: No room for victim blaming: affirmative consent to become law, The Age/Sydney Morning Herald

27 April 2022: Australia’s justice system for victim-survivors of sexual assault is broken–it’s time to fix it, Elle Australia

6 April 2022: Victorian Law Reform Commission calls for heavier penalties for ‘grab and drag’ assaults, better police response to stalking, ABC News

6 April 2022: ‘Not taken seriously’: Police handling of stalking criticised in wake of Celeste Manno’s death, The Age

6 April 2022: ‘Victoria police failing to take stalking victims seriously, report finds’, The Guardian

12 November 2021: ‘Affirmative sexual consent laws to be introduced in Victoria’, The Age

12 November 2021: ‘Affirmative consent laws to be introduced in Victoria in ‘incredible step forward’’, AAP, The Guardian

12 November 2021: ‘Affirmative consent laws to be introduced in Victoria for sexual assault cases’, ABC Online

12 November 2021: ‘Victoria to push new consent, stealthing laws as report finds significant flaws in reporting system’, news.com.au

3 August 2021: ‘Brave mum calls for stalking law reform’ A Current Affair, Channel Nine

18 May 2021: ‘Improving the justice system for sexual assault survivors’, The Law Report, ABC Radio National

16 May 2021: ‘Legal dinosaurs the problem, not consent laws, says law reform chair’, The Age

17 January 2021: ‘Law reform needed to allow deaf and blind people on juries’, The Age

21 January 2020: ‘Do Victorian committals deliver fair and fast justice?’ The Law Report, ABC Radio National