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Prevent. Support. Believe. Queensland’s Framework to address Sexual Violence

Around 1 in 5 women and 1 in 20 men experienced sexual violence since the age of 15 (PSS 2016).

In 2017–18 sexual offences made up 15.5% of all crimes reported to the Queensland Police Service (QGSO 2019).

In 2018, reported victims of sexual assault in Queensland rose for the seventh consecutive year to 4,849 (ABS 2019).

Australian domestic and family violence workers believe that 90–100% of their female clients have experienced intimate partner sexual violence (ANROWS 2019).

This framework outlines the Queensland Government’s approach to preventing and responding to sexual violence in Queensland. It brings together the progress […] made so far and sets out [the Government’s] vision for a Queensland where everyone lives free of the fear, threat or experience of sexual violence. It identifies three priority areas […], each with an objective to work towards, and sets out specific strategies that will guide the Queensland Government’s future actions to deliver on the Framework.

The Framework addresses all forms of sexual violence including sexual assault, sexual harassment, technology-facilitated sexual violence, child sexual abuse and youth sexual violence. It has been designed to include prevention and responses to all people who experience sexual violence, including women, men, children and young people. It also recognises that sexual violence is a gendered issue, and that the majority of victims and survivors are women and girls.

Rough justice: How police are failing survivors of sexual assault

1 in 5 sexual assault reports are “unfounded” in Queensland, compared to 1 in 20 in NSW.

In Queensland the percentage of reports that resulted in legal action dropped from 59% in 1998 to 42% in 2018.

In some council areas, police are more than twice as likely to reject a sexual assault report as nationally. Brisbane’s Redland City Council and Queensland’s regional councils Bundaberg and Sunshine Coast were among the areas with the highest unfounded rates, rejecting 25 per cent of sexual assaults reported in the 10 years to 2018.

Karen Willis, executive officer at Rape and Domestic Violence Services Australia, says, “There shouldn’t be anything like that variation across the state. You just wouldn’t get places or pockets of people who wake up in the morning and decide they’re going to make a false complaint,” she says.
“That has to be from the police end.”

Ting, I., Scott, N. & Palmer, A. (2020). Rough justice: How police are failing survivors of sexual assault. Available online: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-28/how-police-are-failing-survivors-of-sexual-assault/11871364