Sexual assault reports on rise

SEXUAL assault referrals in Tasmania have risen 30 per cent in a year, a support service says.

The Tasmanian Sexual Assault Support Service has joined forces with Laurel House and the Tasmanian Hospitality Association to launch a new campaign to challenge attitudes that sexual harassment is normal.

Tasmanian Sexual Assault Support Service chief executive Jill Maxwell said the number of clients the counselling service had seen in 2016-2017 was 965 — up from 788 in 2015-2016. Increases were also recorded for its crisis service and forensic medical examinations attended.

Ms Maxwell said she believed a greater focus nationally on domestic violence had been the catalyst for the increase in reported cases.

She said 53 per cent of women and 25 per cent of men would experience sexual harassment in their lifetime.

Ms Maxwell said the new poster campaign was particularly timely, given the widespread coverage of sexual harassment in the media and the entertainment industries, but also locally, with allegations of assault at last year’s Falls Festival at Marion Bay.

Two men were charged with assault with indecent intent in relation to two separate incidents where they were alleged to have groped two women over their clothing in the mosh pit.

“What we’re seeing is how women are normalising the fact when they go out of a night with their friends, they expect to be groped and sexually harassed,” Ms Maxwell said.

“They’re normalising it to the point where they not only expect it, but they’re not doing anything about it.”

The posters, which feature messages such as “a short skirt doesn’t mean yes” and “groping without consent is assault” will be put up in pubs, clubs and other entertainment venues across the state.

Laurel House service manager Fiona Girkin said it was not just women who experienced sexual harassment and encouraged men to report inappropriate behaviour.