Warning victims will go silent
Laws ‘weaponised’ against sexual assault survivors
SEXUAL assault advocates are calling for changes to Australia’s social media defamation laws, revealing survivors are less likely to come forward if they see legislation being “weaponised”.
Nina Funnell from Let Her Speak told the Social Media and Online Safety Committee on Wednesday that the way the legal system was set up sought to protect alleged and convicted offenders and penalise victims and survivors from speaking out.
Ms Funnell worked alongside Australian of the Year Grace Tame to change laws in Tasmania and other jurisdictions to allow survivors to self-identify and go public with their stories.
Previously, survivors had not been able to do so because revealing their own identity would identify their abuser – something the survivor could be punished for.
She wants to see similar changes brought about to protect survivors online, saying for many social media was “therapeutic”, and could be used to “recruit support for themselves”, and to “warn others who might be at risk”.
Ms Funnell said these defamation laws had sought to silence Ms Tame and her friends in their attempts to discuss their accusations regarding her abuser.
“Grace’s abuser did use defamation law to try and silence some of Grace’s friends,” Ms Furnell said. “When you have sexual offenders weaponising defamation law in this way, it doesn’t just silence the people who receive the concern notices, it actually silences a whole lot of other people, because word gets around and people are very fearful.
“We see this used strategically… We’ve seen various high profile celebrities who have been accused of various sexual misconducts, who then send concerns notices not only to shut down that immediate victim survivor from speaking out, but also to have a chilling effect, and so on to anyone else who might be contemplating speaking out.”
Earlier, the committee heard from victims of vicious cyber-bullying who called for greater protection from hate speech and a streamlined reporting process.
In a powerful testimony Carly Findlay, a well-known disability advocate, told the Social Media and Online Safety Committee on Wednesday that she had been the victim of brutal attacks during her time online.
“I started using the internet in 1996, and for the most part it’s been incredible,” she said.
“… (But) I’ve...also... experienced an onslaught of bullying.”
Ms Findlay said she wanted more effective laws to help take down hate speech and bullying content.