Sexual abuse is NEVER okay. You have the right to feel safe and protected. If you or someone you know has been sexually abused, there are services that you can go to for help.
For free and confidential legal advice about this topic, please contact us here.
Sexual abuse is where someone does something sexual that makes you feel uncomfortable, or touches your body in a sexual way without your consent.
In Western Australia it is a crime to:
There are also other laws that specifically apply for sexual behaviour towards children and young people, including:
Consent means agreeing to have sex freely and voluntarily. It is against the law to do a sexual act to, or with, someone without their consent.
The legal age of consent in Western Australia is 16. This means that a person under 16 years of age cannot consent to sexual activity.
A young person under the age of 13 can NEVER consent to sex or a sexual act.
In Western Australia, there is a legal defence which can be raised when someone is charged with a crime for having sex with someone under 16. This defence can apply if someone does a sexual act with a person aged 13-15 and they were not more than 3 years older than that person and they reasonably thought that person was aged 16 or older. However, raising a defence to a criminal charge can be complicated!
Unlike some other states, there is no exception or legal defence in the law in Western Australia which applies when two young people who are both under 16 and are the same age, or close in age, have sex. What this means is that it is not legal for two 15 year olds (or a 15 year old and a 13 year old) to have sex, because no-one under the age of 16 can legally consent to sex!
Consent is more complicated than just believing the other person consented. For this reason, it’s always best to check.
Even if someone says ‘yes’ to sexual activity, there are some situations in which they still cannot consent. For example, you cannot freely and voluntarily consent to sexual intercourse if there is force, threat, intimidation, deceit or fraud involved.
If you are thinking of doing something sexual with someone else, it is really important that you make sure you know how old the other person is, and check that they agree to the sexual act. You should take reasonable steps to make sure the other person consents. This might include:
It is also important to know that just because someone has consented in the past, it does not mean that they have given consent to anything in the future. Consent needs to be given every time you have sex or do something sexual with another person.
You can find out more on our page on consent.
If you are ever in immediate danger, please call the police straight away on 000 (triple zero) and try to get to a safe place. If you have been sexually abused, you have the right to be protected and you can report the abuse by calling your local police station.
Sexual abuse is never okay.
If you or someone you know has been sexually abused, there are services you can go to for help. We have provided this information below.
If you have been sexually abused, we strongly recommend that you get medical care. A doctor can test and treat you for any sexually transmitted infections, carry out a forensic examination (if you were abused very recently and you wish to report the crime to the police) and provide information on sexual abuse and follow-up services. You can find your local GP here.
If you have been sexually abused, it is never your fault. If you feel comfortable, we encourage you to talk to someone you trust like a parent, family member, a close friend or a school counsellor. If you don’t want to tell anyone you know, you might feel more comfortable talking to a counsellor over the phone. You could call:
If someone has said you sexually abused them or the police want to talk to you about something you did, you should seek legal advice right away.
If you have been sexually abused, you can make a report to the police. You can do this by going to your local police station, or ringing the police assistance line on 131 444 (open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week). You can also contact the Sex Assault Squad on (08) 9428 1600 or email them on [email protected]. If the abuse just happened, or if it is an emergency, please call the police on 000.
You can take a support person with you when you speak to police, such as a friend or family member. Sexual assault counsellors can also support you through the police process.
If you are the victim of sexual abuse, you do not have to make a report to police. It is your choice about whether, and if so when, you make a report to the police. There are no limits on when you can report sexual abuse to the police, even if sexual abuse happened a long time ago.
However, if you are under 18, and you tell someone else what happened, they might have to make a report to police if they are a mandatory reporter (including doctors and teachers).
If you are thinking about reporting to the police, but you aren’t sure if you are ready, it can be a good idea to write down everything you remember about what happened, so that you have those details if you do decide to report. Remember to keep these details in a safe place.
If you are the victim of sexual abuse in Western Australia, there may be a number of different ways you can get compensation or assistance, depending on what happened to you. These include:
If you think you might want to apply for compensation of support for sexual abuse, it is a good idea to talk to a lawyer to find out what your options are. You can contact us for free and confidential advice here.
You can also find out more about sexual abuse by looking at these websites:
If you’re under 25 and you have a question about sexual abuse that we haven’t answered above, please ask us a question here and we can give you some free information and advice.
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