Victorian Labor promises new offences to close domestic and family violence ‘loopholes’
Summary
The Victorian Labor government plans to introduce two new criminal offences to better protect victims of family violence. These laws aim to punish those who cause a person’s death through family violence or abandon a victim needing medical help. They will also increase penalties for sexual offences and improve legal protections for survivors in court.Key Facts
- The government will create a new manslaughter offence for cases where a person dies by suicide due to family violence.
- Another new offence will target perpetrators who abandon victims needing medical care after violence.
- These changes respond to cases where victims were left without help and perpetrators were not punished.
- Penalties for rape will increase from a maximum of 25 years to life imprisonment.
- Maximum penalties for other serious sexual offences will increase by 5 years.
- The maximum penalty for repeatedly breaching family violence orders will double from 5 to 10 years.
- Sentencing for murdering a current or former partner will have a standard minimum of 30 years instead of 25.
- The Evidence Act will be amended to stop lawyers from using invasive questioning on survivors and allow courts to consider patterns of sexual abuse as evidence.
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