It cannot be ignored that this inquiry engages with some unpalatable and, at times, shocking realities about sexual violence in Australia. With the media comprehensively covering high-profile cases, Australians began to have conversations about sexual assault and the meaning of ‘consent’, without which a sexual activity becomes an unlawful criminal act.

Submitters and witnesses remarked repeatedly that while legal reform and education are significant parts of the solution, transformative change to entrenched and pervasive views about respectful relationships and sexual consent will require a whole of society response.

This report comprises five chapters, as follows:

• Chapter 1 provides an introduction, background and context to the inquiry;
• Chapter 2 discusses the similarities and differences in Australia’s sexual consent laws, the case for and against the national harmonisation of these laws, and the limitations of law reform in this area;
• Chapter 3 examines police responses to reports of sexual assault and victim-survivors’ experiences within the criminal justice system;
• Chapter 4 discusses the need for improved consent education in primary and secondary schools, tertiary settings and the Australian community; and
• Chapter 5 sets out the committee’s findings and recommendations, including:
  1. that the Australian Law Reform Commission considers whether model jury directions should be developed as part of any initiative to harmonise Australia’s sexual consent laws
  2. more resources for Respectful Relationships Education
  3. an independent review of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency’s response to sexual violence on university campuses.