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Full Stop Australia develops submissions to government inquiries in every Australian jurisdiction to inform policy, practice and law reform impacting upon our clients' safety, justice and wellbeing.
In our consultation processes, we seek feedback from both our frontline trauma specialist counsellors and our clients who have expressed an interest in having their say on the systems and processes impacting upon their own safety.
We do this in partnership with our sector partners, such as the National Association of Services Against Sexual Assault and key state and territory based sexual, domestic and family violence peaks and services who are leading reform efforts in their respective jurisdictions.
Emily Dale is Head of Advocacy and leads the work on all our submissions. If you would like to discuss an issue of policy, practice or law reform, please do not hesitate to contact Emily by email at advocacy@fullstop.org.au
Some of our submissions are subject to cabinet in confidence, but you can access copies of our public submissions below.
 | Submission to the Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council, July 2023 (PDF 333kb) Full Stop Australia thanks the QLD Sentencing Advisory Council for the opportunity to make a preliminary submission regarding the sentencing of sexual violence offences and aggravating factors for domestic and family violence offences. |
 | Submission to the Australian Institute of Criminology, June 2023 (PDF 333kb) The Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) has been engaged to undertake a review of sexual assault and child sexual abuse laws in Australia to support efforts to strengthen criminal justice responses. Full Stop Australia thanks the AIC for the opportunity to provide input on its review of sexual assault and child sexual abuse legislation. |
 | Submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, June 2023 (PDF 333kb) Full Stop Australia thanks the Joint Committe for the opportunity to provide feedback regarding Australia's Human Rights Framework. Full Stop Australia provides in principle support but raises concerns about the proposed model. |
 | Submission to the Committee Secretary on the Family Law Amendment Bill 2023, June 2023 (PDF 333kb) Full Stop Australia thanks the Committee Secretary for the opportunity to provide a submission on the important amendments in the Family Law Amendment Bill 2023. |
 | Submission to the Department of Justice and Attorney General, June 2023 (PDF 333kb) The Queensland Government is seeking feedback on ways to achieve the right balance in the use of surveillance technologies to benefit community safety, while limiting their potential use in harmful situations. Full Stop Australia thanks the Queensland Government for the opportunity to provide input on the use of surveillance technologies to ensure reforms consider and protect victim-survivors of domestic, family and sexual violence. |
 | Submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, May 2023 (PDF 333kb) Full Stop Australia thanks the Committee for the opportunity to provide comment on the Family Law Amendment (Information Sharing) Bill 2023. |
 | Submission to the Attorney General's Department, May 2023 (PDF 333kb) The Attorney-General’s Department is undertaking a national consultation process to inform the development of legal services models to improve the experiences of victims and survivors in the criminal justice system. Full Stop Australia thanks the Attorney General’s Department for the opportunity to provide input on the important issue of developing trauma informed legal services for survivors of sexual assault. |
 | Submission to the Law Reform of Western Australia, May 2023 (PDF 333kb) The Attorney General of Western Australia has asked the Law Reform Commission of Western Australia to review Western Australia’s sexual offence laws. Volume 2 considers the sexual offences that should be included in the Criminal Code Act Compilation Act 1913 (WA) and the penalties that should be set for those offences. Full Stop Australia is grateful for the opportunity to provide feedback to this consultation process. |
 | Supplementary Submission to the Law Reform of Western Australia, May 2023 (PDF 333kb) The Attorney General of Western Australia has asked the Law Reform Commission of Western Australia to review Western Australia’s sexual offence laws. Volume 1 provides advice to the Government about the ways in which these laws should be changed, having regard to the way that sexual offences are currently understood in the community. Full Stop Australia is grateful for the opportunity to provide feedback to this consultation process. |
 | Submission to the Respect@Work Taskforce, April 2023 (PDF 333kb) The Attorney-General’s Department has commenced a public consultation regarding the appropriate cost model for Commonwealth anti-discrimination proceedings owing to concerns raised during the debate on the Respect at Work Bill. Full Stop Australia is grateful for the opportunity to attend the roundtable and provide feedback to this consultation process. |
 | Submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, March 2023 (PDF 333kb) The Senate referred an inquiry into current and proposed sexual consent laws in Australia to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee for inquiry. Full Stop Australia is grateful for the opportunity to address these important matters, and thanks the survivor-advocates who shared their lived experiences within this submission. |
 | Submission to the Law Reform Commission of Western Australia, March 2023 (PDF 333kb) The Attorney-General of Western Australia has asked the Law Reform Commission of Western Australia to review Western Australia’s sexual offence laws, addressing the law of consent, mistake of fact defence and issues relating to objectives and guiding principles of reform. Full Stop Australia is grateful for the opportunity to provide a submission outlining these matters. |
 | Submission to the Attorney-General's Department, February 2023 (PDF 333kb) The Attorney-General of Australia is seeking feedback on the draft Family Law Amendment Bill 2023 which will primarily amend the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth), with some consequential amendments to the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia Act 2021 (Cth). Full Stop Australia is grateful for the opportunity to provide a submission addressing the exposure draft and thanks the survivor-advocates who shared their lived experiences within. |
 | Submission to the Committee on Workforce Australia Employment Services, November 2022 (PDF 333kb) The Select Committee on Workforce Australia Employment Services is calling for submissions on the ParentsNext program as the first major component of its inquiry into employment services in Australia. Full Stop Australia is grateful for the opportunity to provide a submission to this Inquiry on Parent’s Next. |
 Submission to the NSW Government, November 2022 (PDF 891kb) The NSW Government is consulting on a public exposure draft bill to outlaw coercive control in intimate partner relationships. Full Stop Australia is grateful for the opportunity to provide feedback on the exposure draft of the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Coercive Control) Bill 2022. | |
 Submission to the NSW Government, August 2022 (PDF 1945kb) The NSW Government is consulting on a public exposure draft bill to outlaw coercive control in intimate partner relationships. Full Stop Australia is grateful for the opportunity to provide feedback on the exposure draft of the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Coercive Control) Bill 2022. | |
 Submission to the NSW Government, August 2022 (PDF 1945kb) Full Stop Australia welcomes the opportunity to make comment on the draft NSW Domestic and Family Violence Plan 2022-2027. | |
 Submission to the NSW Government, August 2022 (PDF 1945kb) Full Stop Australia welcomes the opportunity to make comment on the draft NSW Sexual Violence Plan 2022-2027.
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 Submission to the Commissioner for Victims of Crime, July 2022 (PDF 1945kb) The Western Australian Government is seeking community debate about whether coercive control should become a criminal offence. Full Stop Australia thanks the Western Australian Government for the opportunity to submit and calls for the criminalisation of coercive control as an important step forward in recognising and responding to the calls of victim-survivors. | |
 Submission to the NSW Department of Communities and Justice, July 2022 (PDF 1945kb) The purpose of this review is to ensure that the policy objectives of the Victims Rights and Support Act 2013 remain valid and that the terms remain appropriate to meet the policy objectives. Full Stop Australia thanks the Department for the opportunity to submit and as a general proposition, we do not consider that the current Act is working well for victim-survivors. | |
 Submission to the Tasmanian Government May 2022 (PDF 1945kb) The Tasmanian Government is seeking specific feedback on our current Action Plan, Safe Homes, Families and Communities: Tasmania’s action plan for family and sexual violence 2019-2022. Full Stop Australia thanks the Tasmanian Government for the opportunity to submit and strongly urges for an increase in long-term core funding for specialist sexual violence services to meet increased demand. | |
 Submission to the QLD Women's Safety and Justice Taskforce Discussion Paper 3 April 2022 (PDF 1945kb) The Women's Safety and Justice Taskforce is seeking feedback to assist with necessary reform of the criminal justice system in Queensland. Full Stop Australia thanks the taskforce for the opportunity and calls for the Queensland criminal justice system to urgently undertake comprehensive, systematic and whole-of-government reform. | |
 Submission on the Implementation Considerations for the Criminalisation of Coercive Control in South Australia (PDF 1945kb) Full Stop Australia supports the criminalisation of coercive control as one piece of a broader plan of action to properly and meaningfully respond to the scourge of coercive control. Criminalisation in and of itself is not a silver bullet and must be accompanied by whole-of-government measures to educate, inform and train the justice system and the wider community.
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 Submission to the NSW Treasury Women’s Economic Opportunities Review March 2022 (PDF 1945kb) The NSW Treasury is leading a landmark Women’s Economic Opportunities Review which will consider how to improve women’s economic security through increased economic participation over the next 5-10 years. Full Stop Australia warmly welcomes this review as a once-in-a generation opportunity to develop meaningful policies and programs which will lift women’s economic security and participation. | |
 Tasmania's Criminal Code Amendment Bill 2022- February 2022 (PDF 1945kb) The Tasmanian Government drafted a Bill to introduce an offence of Strangulation and an addition to the definition of consent in s2A regarding Stealthing. Full Stop Australia is very supportive of the insertion of a specific provision relating to stealthing in the law relating to consent, and also the inclusion of a new, specific offence of strangulation. However, concerns were raised relating to the form of both provisions. | |
 Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment (Strengthening the Criminal Justice Response to Sexual Violence and Other Measures) - February 2022 (PDF 1945kb) Full Stop Australia is firmly of the belief that the implementation of sexual violence law reform at a Commonwealth level provides a critical benchmark for State and Territory Governments to follow. In this regard, while Full Stop Australia is broadly supportive of the reforms proposed as a first step, we submit that the Government should consider implementing further reforms as much as is possible and in the interests of justice. | |
 NSW Pre-Budget Submission 2022/23: Improving Access to Sexual Violence Services - February 2022 (PDF 1945kb) The NSW Sexual Violence Helpline (formerly NSW Rape Crisis) is the state-wide 24/7 specialist counselling and care navigation service for people in NSW impacted by sexual violence. The NSW Government has been funding Full Stop Australia's NSW Sexual Violence Helpline for nearly 50 years. This funding submission includes recommendations for the expansion of the NSW Sexual Violence Helpline to meet rising demand and to improve accessibility for at-risk cohorts. | |
