New South Wales (NSW) Police Commissioner Mick Fuller has spoken to the attorney-general and police minister about an app that couples could use to record consent for sex.
Fuller has defended his idea of a phone app to establish and record mutual consent before having sex, arguing it could keep people out of a flawed justice system.
The proposal drew swift criticism from politicians, women’s safety workers, and the public after Fuller published an opinion piece in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph on Thursday.
He said an app could normalise conversations around consent and formalise the habit of actively seeking consent.
He conceded it could provide challenges, such as if someone withdrew consent after agreeing.
Others, including Labor’s police spokeswoman Lynda Voltz, pointed out that women could be coerced into ticking a box on an app.
Voltz told AAP it would make things even harder for assault survivors if the app were used as evidence of consent in criminal proceedings.
Women’s Safety NSW CEO Hayley Foster said the sector had many evidence-based proposals for improving access to justice for sexual assault survivors, but the app was not among them.
Fuller later told reporters the app would stop assaults from occurring in the first place and keep people out of the justice system.
He said more than 15,000 women come forward with complaints of sexual assault every year, with that number “growing exponentially,” but only two percent secure convictions.
“I am hoping technology, whether it is an app or something else, will save matters going into the justice system because there is clarity that this just dinner or just a date,” he said.
He said sexual assault trials were difficult and traumatic for women victims, and the justice system “doesn’t seem to be helping offenders in these matters.”
“We’re failing both players,” he said.
He said consent should be positive, not neutral, and an app could give people clarity.
“Men are victims of this as well,” he said.
Fuller rejected the idea that women could be forced to consent on the app, saying many victims in these cases were unconscious and it would be tough to get a jury to accept they consented in those circumstances.
He acknowledged the criticism of the app idea and that it may never eventuate, but said he welcomed the conversation about consent.
“At the end of the day should I be embarrassed about protecting the women of NSW? I say no,” he said.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian refused to be drawn on the idea of the app, but congratulated Fuller for “taking a leadership position on starting the conversation.”
She said Attorney-General Mark Speakman would “very shortly” be making a proposal on consent law reform to her government.
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